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A pre-university dropout-turned-IT consultant, Sudarshan N, a Kannadiga based in Sydney, is bringing to Bangalore audiences thoughtful cinema this Friday like he did with his first film ‘Mukhamukhi’ (Face to Face) in 2005-06.

Sudarshan, nephew of renowned cinematographer S Ramachandra who made the famed ‘Malgudi Days’, has called his film ‘Thallana’ or (Distraught), a story of relationships with unexpected interventions by unexpected people.

Sudarshan, the scriptwriter and director of the film, is a man of adventure. “I am a pre-university dropout, but I had done an apprenticeship with Motor Industries Company (Mico). So, after PU, I joined Mico, worked there for six-seven years. But all along, my heart was in theatre, film and plays. In the 1980s, I got myself into theatre groups in Bangalore from where I picked up skills of direction, acting and the like. My uncle was a great inspiration, too, for me to take to films. After my stint at Mico, I managed to go to Australia and settled in Sydney towards the 1990s. It is there that I took up IT consultancy, not a job in a company, because I wanted time to do what I had eventually planned to do – make movies,” Sudarshan told Deccan Herald.

Sudarshan’s Mukhamukhi is based on English dramatist J B Priestley’s most famous play, ‘An Inspector Calls’, going back to the 1940s. ‘An Inspector Calls’, which was made into a film starring Alastair Sim, is the story of a young girl called Eva Smith and her tragic suicide. The Kannada movie was localised and a modification of the script did happen. The broad idea, however, was similar to what the play espouses. ‘Mukhamukhi’ is an intriguing story of self-revelation of a family trying to defend its role in a poor girl’s death.

‘Thallana’ is also a thoughtful film dealing with three different kinds of relationships. It tells us about the story of a missing girl who happens to be the daughter of a maid, about how the owner of the house wants to help in finding the missing girl, while he is against his own daughter’s pregnancy because he and his wife believe she would give birth to a girl; and then a police inspector’s intervention in these issues.

“I try to tell the story of how people you don’t expect to help you do so, and the contradictions they face. I also outline how astrology plays a role in our life during crisis situations. I am dealing with different layers of relationships,” says Sudarshan.

Authentic touch

The movie has been shot largely in South Bangalore and Kanakapura villages to lend an authentic feel to the narration. Sudarshan travels from Sydney to Bangalore often and when he has to shoot films, does so over long periods, spending all this time in the city until the project is completed. “The film was made completely out of our own resources, personnel, and money. It cost us approximately Rs 50 lakh.”

The film stars K S Sridhar, Nirmala Chennappa, Aruna Balraj, Surabhi Vasisht, Anilkumar, Mamatha G and Nagendra Shah and others. Music composer S R Ramakrisha, who scored the music for ‘Mukhamukhi’, is the music director for ‘Thallana’, too.