Women enjoy a strong presence in Indian mythology, which is also reflected in movies such as Kurukshetra. The war epic, written by J K Bharavi, produced by Muniratna and directed by Naganna, is based on the poem Gadhayuddha by Ranna.
The tale is told from Duryodhana’s point of view, and the character is played by Darshan in his landmark 50th film.
City Express got a sneak peek into the looks of the various women characters in the film, such as Sneha who plays the role of Draupadi, Meghana Raj who features as Bhanumati, and Haripirrya and Aditi Arya as Maaye and Uttara, respectively, all of whom are present as major characters in Kurukshetra.
Also featuring in prominent roles are Bharathi Vishnuvardhan as Kunti, Anumpama as Gandhari, and Pavithra Lokesh as Arjuna’s wife, Subhadra.
Director Naganna says it is an old saying that Mahabharata wouldn’t have been complete without women, and that these characters have their own relevance and add weightage to the epic drama. “Besides these actors, hundreds of women are part of the magnum opus as junior artistes.
It gives a festive feel when you watch this folklore cinema on 3D,” says Naganna, adding that a lot of investment has gone into creating the costumes for all the characters.
“We consulted four-five costume designers from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. We took a lot of references, and utmost importance was given to create the appearance of that era.
We had to match the colour tone of the costumes to the set design, so that everything looks interconnected,” Naganna adds.
The four female leads have a song in the film. The music has been composed by V Harikrishna while lyrics have been written by Nalla Nagendra.
The song, Chaaruthanti, featuring Meghana Raj and Darshan as Bhanumati and Duryodhana, respectively, crossed 1 million views within a couple of days of its release. The makers are planning to release the other songs at equal intervals before the film’s release.
The mythological drama, said to be made with a budget of Rs 100 crore, has been shot in both 2D and 3D in Kannada. Distributed under the banner of Rockline Venkatesh, it will be simultaneously dubbed and released on Aug. 2 in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi.
The multi-starrer also features Ambareesh, Ravichandran, Arjun Sarja, Ravi Shankar, and Nikhil Kumar. It features cinematography by Jayanan Vincent while Jo Ni Harsha is the editor.