New year, new lease of life?

M D Riti

And finally, a film thats all set to touch a jubilee run in the Kannada film industry. Vishnuvardhan's new film, Yajamana, is doing well in the theatres, five weeks after its release. Theatre owners reveal that audiences consist largely of women, and matinee shows are running full.

For the Kannada film industry, which is at an all time low following its three-month closure in the wake of the Rajakumar kidnapping, this is heartening news. Not so happy, though, are the long queue of filmmakers waiting to release their own films, hesitating to go up against this obvious BO hit.

Comedian artiste Jaggesh, who told rediff.com at the Jakkur airport, while everyone was waiting to welcome Rajakumar on his return from the jungle, that every day would be a festive day after this, has just had a new release this week: Shukradase (good fortune). Jaggesh always pulls in the young boys and college students with his own brand of irreverence and bawdy humour.

Ageing star-turned-MP Ambareesh, whose film Vande Mataram, was released last week, is already virtually out of films. And his new release is not doing well at all : it is not expected to last long in the cities, and might fail even in the B centres, which have been Ambarish's stronghold so far.

Meanwhile, cop-actor B C Patil is waiting with two of his films ready for release: Shaapa and Lankesh. The latter was the first film to go on the sets after the film industry ban was called off in the wake of the kidnapping. Patil was the only one to go ahead with a grand mahurat and hectic shooting schedules even before Rajakumar was released.

Now, he has shown Lankesh to select friends recently, and has apparently got a very good response to it. Patil himself is reportedly not so sure about how well Shaapa will fare, and so is waiting to release it. Meanwhile, Patil's own future is in some uncertainty, as he has decided to resign from police service if the Karnataka Government throws him an either-or on this issue, and asks him to choose between his two vocations.

Two other films, Diggajara and Gattimela, are also ready for release. However, heroine Shruti apparently dies in the climax of Gattimela, and the producers are noto happy about this sad ending. The director is now believed to be considering a redo of this climax, after which the film will be released.

Meanwhile, the next Shivarajkumar starrer, Maduve Aagona Baa, is almost ready now. The first new release last year after the kidnap was a Shivaraj starrer Galate Aliyandare, which did tremendously. This film too is expected to be a hit, but the producers are waiting for a good empty week to release it, just to be sure.

The list of Kannada films waiting for release in the pipeline goes on almost endlessly. It looks as if the whole Kannada film industry was waiting to roll after its long enforced rest last year, and is losing no time in putting out new releases.