Brothers Anup Bhandari and Nirup Bhandari, who took Sandalwood around the world, with their debut venture Rangitaranga is now busy on the sets of their second film Rajaratha with Nirup in the lead.
But soon the director will be seen on the hot seat, Anup will be directing none other than Puneeth Rajkumar.
The director is doubly excited because his brother Nirup will be sharing screen space with the actor. The director, who celebrated his birthday on March 2, is now set to make this big announcement.
He shares the news with City Express saying, “This is going to be an action adventure film. And for me, this is a defining moment, as we two brothers are getting an opportunity to work with the actor,” he says.
“Puneeth had agreed to work with us a long time ago and even before he heard the oneliner of the story,” says Anup.
“I had met Puneeth on another occasion and, during our discussion, I shared an idea with him and he was quick to say ‘Yes’.
Since I was busy with Rajaratha, I couldn’t get my hands on the story. Now that he has confirmed on the oneliner, we are going to start the work on the script. When our film will go on floors will be decided once the script is finalised and once we complete our prior commitments.”
Anup humbly credits Puneeth’s fans for this project. “Sometime ago, just after Rangitaranga, there were rumours that I will be directing Puneeth.
Though, it was just a passing thought, it caught on like a wildfire. People who met me from then kept enquiring about my project with Puneeth. I had visualised a subject, in the early days of my career, which came to mind once more and I thought it was apt for Puneeth.
We are working on the same story now,”he says. The director assures that the action adventure will definitly be different and will see Puneeth in a never seen before role.
“It will be a commercial flick and, at the same time, it will be a movie that people have come to expect from me.”
The director was thrilled that his aesthetics matched well with Puneeth’s. “I was surprised that the star is fond of world cinema. During our discussion on films, it was interesting to learn that our wavelengths matched. His taste in cinema is really good. The fact that he had watched Rangitaranga and knew my work is what made him agree to work with me, just after hearing the idea,” he says.