What would an ordinary citizen do if he suddenly found himself in the Chief Minister’s chair? Would he be able to fix the problems he had spent years complaining about, or would he discover that running a government is far more complicated than watching it from the outside?

That question drives Common Man, the upcoming Kannada film directed by veteran filmmaker Om Sai Prakash. Starring Gowrishankar SRG in the lead, the film puts an ordinary man in an extraordinary position and follows what happens when he takes charge of the state. The film is slated for a September 25 release.

The idea begins with a familiar frustration: everyone has an opinion about what should change in society. But Common Man takes that thought a step further by giving its protagonist the power to act on those opinions. According to the film’s team, the story looks at the changes he attempts to bring about and the resistance he encounters once he enters the political system.

The film’s music was recently introduced through four songs, with actors Vinod Prabhakar, Umashree, Ramesh Bhat and Priyanka Upendra taking part in the event. The songs have voices including Chaitra Achar, Kailash Kher and Baba Sehgal, with Vinay Chandra composing the music.

But the music event also brought attention back to the film’s larger concerns. One of the songs, described as a patriotic number, led Ramesh Bhat to speak about corruption and the need to confront it. For a film built around an outsider entering the corridors of power, that concern fits directly into its premise.

Umashree, who introduced one of the songs, used the occasion to recall her association with Om Sai Prakash. She spoke about a period when she was being written off by sections of the industry and how the director continued to give her opportunities. For her, returning to work with him carried a personal significance beyond the event itself.

Vinod Prabhakar, too, found a personal connection at the gathering, recalling the many senior artistes on stage who had worked with his father, Tiger Prabhakar. Priyanka Upendra, who also participated in the event, spoke about the songs and their different moods.

For Om Sai Prakash, Common Man is also a significant film in terms of scale; it is his 106th directorial venture. The filmmaker, who has worked across several genres during his long career, is now turning his attention to a political premise built around a man who enters power without being part of the political establishment.

N Narasimhamurthy has written the story and produced the film under Surabhi Films, while Om Sai Prakash has handled the screenplay and direction. Gowrishankar plays the protagonist, with Shona Ladva as the female lead. Veteran actor Ashok plays the Governor, while Ramesh Bhat, Prakash Thuminad and others are also part of the cast.

The technical team includes music composer Vinay Chandra, cinematographers J G Krishna and J K Deepak, editor M Muniraju and action director Thriller Manju.

According to the lead actor, Gowrishankar, the interesting part about Common Man is that its central fantasy is not about becoming powerful. It is about what an ordinary person might do after getting that power. "The film asks whether knowing the problems of the common citizen is enough to govern, and what happens when those intentions run into political opposition, corruption and the machinery of power."

That makes Common Man less about the fantasy of occupying the CM’s chair and more about the test that begins once the chair is occupied.