Director Mussanje Mahesh, who is popularly known for his film Mussanje Maatu starring Sudeep and Ramya, is now on a directorial spree. Mahesh, who has two projects - Naane Next CM starring Aditya and Ragini Dwivdei and Meghana Raj starrer Jinda -- ready for release, the director is all set to start two more projects.
“They say, an idle mind is a devil’s workshop, but my idleness drags me to pen and paper,” says Mahesh. “I am always at work and the material might come handy some day. So when I am not directing, I am readying a collection of stories in the hope that I will direct it some day, and the next two films I am starting on is from my story collection.”
Coincidentally, the muhurath for the movie happens to fall on Ragini’s birthday and producer Dattatreya Bachegowda’s wedding anniversary. The latter is investing in Mahesh’s two projects.
While Mahesh is working with Ragini for the second time, he is working with Aditya on their third project together. “Both Ragini and Aditya will be essaying characters they have not tried before,” says Mahesh. “Aditya will move away from his action-hero image and play the role of a common man, and Ragini will be without glam in this film, as a girl-next-door.”
However, the director gives little away about the film. "The movie deals with a sensitive issue that is happening in Karnataka,” he says. “The best part is that it is also the well-kept secret, which is what inspired me to write it. If I reveal the story, then nobody may turn up at the theatres. I want to maintain a certain amount of secrecy till the movie is released.”
The other movie the director is working on with Aditya will be a beautiful love story, which will tip its hat to Mussanje Maatu. “The technicians will be the same,” he says, “The heroine and the rest of the cast will be changed.” Comfort and chemistry between actors and directors bring them together to work on more than one film. “This is why Aditya, Ragini and I work together often too,” he says.
“Aditya has remained the same person, whether my movies did well at the box office or flopped... he is also talented. As for Ragini, she is very supportive and understands the struggle that goes into making a cinema and works around it.”