Tejal Sinha
National award winning director Mansore, after the success of Harivu, Naticharami, and ACT 1978 is back with another political thriller titled 19.20.21. Being based on real-life incidents, the story revolves around depicting violations of human rights, starring Shrunga B.V., Balaji Manohar, M.D. Pallavi, Rajesh Nataranga, Avinash, Mahadev Hadapad and Venkatesh Prasad in key roles.
The film is presented by Aagaaz Entertainment. Producer Devaraj R of D’ Creations, and Mansore have once again teamed up for this upcoming Kannada feature film set to release on March 3.
Basically, “I started my career as a visual artist and accidentally got a chance to work in the art direction department, and later as an art director, I realised that cinema is a larger canvas to present my thoughts and to reach a wide range of people and that’s what inspired me to be a director,” said the Nathicharami director, for which he had won the Filmfare award for the best director-Kannada.
Coming back to 19.20.21, the film shows the life of an oppressed community near western ghats of Karnataka, the atrocities endured by them for 20 long years, their pain and how they fight against it to avail justice, was something that inspired the director to work on such a concept. Sharing more insights about the same, he said, “We have tried to narrate the struggle of our main character Manju (played by Shrunga B.V.) – a journalism student
( a young man who is the first person in his community who joins an university) to fight against the injustice.Title 19.20.21 speaks about the articles of our constitution, how this plays a pivotal role in our protagonist’s journey, and since our film revolves around the intent of the constitution and rights a common citizen is empowered with. We felt it’s a suitable title for this film.”
Asked on how this film is going to differ from his previous films, to which he says, “My previous three films were of a limited canvas, meaning the subject was huge but required less space and characters. In this film, we had to capture almost a decade’s journey with a maximum incorporation of true incidents and hence, this was demanding a lot more important characters and wide canvas as compared to earlier films.”
Renowned Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa, once said, “The characters in my films try to live honestly and make the most of the lives they’ve been given. I believe you must live honestly and develop your abilities to the full. People who do this are the real heroes.” In a film with such a concept, the actor’s look is just not what matters, but how much justice they do, to get out the message that the film is trying to convey.
The director couldn’t deny this fact, as he spoke about the casting, and said, “We wanted actors who could go beyond imitating the real characters, more than just looks but add value to the character designed in particular and present it on screen as realistic as possible. So we have mainly casted theatre artists and experienced film artists who have always lived the characters.”
Cinema is a reflection of society and in most cases has the ability to be a mirror and not just show the problems but also give solutions and help them reach a large mass through faces and voices that matter. The director couldn’t agree much and he said, “Majorly, for me cinema should not be larger than life, it should make the audience feel like it’s happening right infront of them, they are also a part of it and experience the emotions along with our characters. I approach my narration in a realistic manner. When I choose a story, the focus is more on humanity based, emotions and relationships as I believe that would stay with the audience for a longer time.”
Having two national awards winning films Harivu and Nathicharami, already for his credits, was getting an award or such recognition something that he ever thought of while make these films, he on the up and up he says, “Keeping aside the returns or profits a cinema makes which is important, it should also stay with the audience so success for me is based on how much the cinema impacts and lasts long in their memory. If it’s just making money, then the audience forgets it once they step out of the theatre, you cannot call it a true success.”
“If I have to quote an example, our previous film ACT 1978, has inspired a women entrepreneur who had to undergo a continuous ordeal to get a loan sanction. so she stood for herself and silently protested against the bank officials who were in denial to approve the loans in spite of all documentation so such incidents definitely adds up to my definition of success,” said the virtuoso adding, “I have never done a film to get an award, my only objective is to deliver a good film to the audience and people should experience the cinema. If such films get awards and recognitions that’s an add-on feather and I am happy about it.”
While from a producer’s point of view, having a good hit at the Box office is important for them to have confidence to produce more such films, he believes, “For me, it is important to make films which are impactful and last longer in the audience’s memory.”
The filmmaker on the workfront has 3 to 4 films, which are under discussion and yet to be finalised. “Whichever story’s production, casting gets finalised, that project will take off. Hopefully, soon,” wraps up the director.
