Sridhar Shikaripura’s directorial debut, Dharani Mandala Madhyadolage is set to release this week. The film, which has its title drawn from the famous folk song, Punyakoti(which translates to ‘centre of the earth) is based on an incident that happens over a time span of 24 hours, in and around Bengaluru.
Speaking ahead of the film’s release, the director shares that he has written a different kind of screenplay for Dharani Mandala... using hyperlinks. “It is a rare attempt in Kannada cinema. Such a screenplay has been explored in world cinema like Crash, Amorasperros, and Babel. We have also seen the same type of writing in the Telugu film Vedham and the Tamil film Aaranya Kaandam. Though Kannada film directors have attempted this pattern they have rarely been noticed,” says Sridhar. He goes on to share his inspiration behind the film. “Somehow, I ended up watching these kinds of films while growing up and they had a major influence on me when I wrote my debut. My film has five parallel stories.”
Dharani Mandala Madhyadolage has also caught the attention of viewers with its posters. The director reveals that his past profession as a designer helped him achieve this with the help of two other professionals.
“Thirteen years ago, I entered the film industry as a designer. At that time, I wanted to work under Yogaraj Bhat, because I was a big fan of his film, Mungaru Male. I felt that the director was the hero in that film. My passion towards getting into direction started from there. However, I didn’t get any opportunities to learn filmmaking from him. So I continued working on my design skills. Later, I learnt direction by assisting directors like Rajendra Singh Babu, Ghouse Peer, Ananth Urs and Puri Jagannadh,” he shares.
Even though he assisted commercial film directors, Sridhar was always an admirer of world cinema. “However, the making of Dharani Mandala... will carry a shade of Puri Jaganaddh films,” he says.
The film starring Naveen Shankar, Aishani Shetty and Yashwanth Shetty also has Jayashree Aradhya, Siddhu Moolimani, and Omkar playing important roles. “The film is all about coincidences, it is in fact the main theme of Dharani Mandala Madhyadolage. The film also has a philosophical side to it,” he explains.
Dharani Mandala... has cinematography by Keerthan Poojary and editing by Ujwal Chandra, and music by Ronada Bakesh and Karthik Chennoji Rao.