The year 2022 was a busy year for actor-filmmaker Dhananjay, who had five film releases and will end the rather productive year with his sixth release, Once Upon a Time in Jamaligudda. "Except for Hoysala, all the projects that I had committed to after the pandemic found a release this year. Over the last couple of years, I have managed to experiment with different roles, and collaborate with different teams. This helped me spread my wings to other languages too, and I have successfully launched my own production house. My continuous efforts bore fruit this year, and every film of mine had positive results," he says.
Will this process of doing half-a-dozen films a year continue for Dhananjay in the coming years too? "No. I don't think so. I also need my time and space. Today, one film takes 100 days, and the latest example is my film, Hoysala. I should also think about the scale and the canvas of my films before signing multiple projects," he explains.
2022 was also a year that helped the actor get close to his audience, which, in turn, helped him choose better roles. "My audience can expect me to play strong, heroic characters with the right kind of teams to mount those projects," he says.
Coming to Jamaligudda, the film will have him collaborate with debutant director Kushal Gowda, and going by the looks and character of Hiro Shima, it is not a regular outing for Dhananjay, and he agrees. "This is another experimental effort from my end. It is a travel-based film that will have the audience taking back wonderful memories.
All credit goes to Kushal Gowda, who has neatly opened a new world and strikes an emotional chord. The subject does not fall under any particular genre, and will be loved by all sections of the audience," he says. Jamaligudda is about what happens when a prisoner escapes from prison, and how events unfold around him. Although the film is set in the mid-90s, Dhananjay strongly believes that Once Upon a Time in Jamaligudda will still feel fresh. "The film revolves around friendship, love, fights, relationships, prison, etc... and has special twists. Even though it is a fictional story, this movie will feel so relatable," he says.
The film also stars Bhavana Ramanna, who is back on screen after a hiatus, Prakash Belawadi, Aditi Prabhudeva, Nandagopal, Yash Shetty, Tagaru Saroja, and child artiste Praanya, among others.
Dhananjay, who has wrapped up shooting for Hoysala, will begin 2023 with the multilingual project (Kannada and Telugu), which is directed by Eshwar Karthik, and stars Satya Dev. Uttarakaanda with director Rohit Padaki will be his other project in 2023.