Katha Sangama, a collection of seven stories, will set a different mindset amongst the audience, who will get to see seven stories for the price for one film, says director Rishab Shetty, who conceptualised the film. This will also enable them to change their perspective about movie-making, he adds.
The director, who is dedicating this film to legendary director Putanna Kanagal, says he wanted to stay true to the idea of making an anthology. Rishab considers Puttanna Kanagal as a university, and feels fortunate that through a project like Katha Sangama, he got to meet photographer Ashwath Narayan, who had worked with Puttanna.
“Ashwath Narayan owns Pragathi Studio, and worked with the legendary director in all his films, except Katha Sangama, which he made 46 years ago,” says Rishab, who has purchased three exclusive photos of Puttanna from the photographer. “I worked for Katha Sangama in parallel with my directorial film, and my conversation with the photographer, and stories told by him about Puttanna Kanagal inspired me for the climax of Sa Hi Pra Shaale..., which I did it one shot of 15.24 seconds,” he adds.
Rishab considers Puttanna as a true legend. “Personally, I liked the way he built characters, and how he expressed the emotions, which comes alive on the silver screen,” says Rishab, who is jointly producing the film with Prakash H K and Pradeep. He is happy to spreadhead a film like Katha Sangama, which he calls a once-in-a-lifetime project coming from him. The film has been made under the banner of Shree Devi Entertainers, which first brought out Anup Bhandari’s Rangitaranga. The production house is also collaborating with Pushkar Films for Avane Srimannarayana.