Prithvi Kumar, who started of his acting career with Preetham Gubbi’s Naanu Mattu Varalakshmi, had started work on his second movie Muthina Haara. This is Rishi Ramaiah's directorial debut and nearly 40 per cent of its shoot has been completed.

The one-film-old actor, who had taken a one-and-half month break for a business trip to the US, had used this time to prepare for this role by growing a beard and losing around 10 kg. This was essential to play this character, who will have varied shades and image makeovers in the film.

“Prithvi’s character will have two variations and four image changeovers, and for this he transformed his physique... grew a long beard, lost kilos,” says the director to City Express. “Now that he is ready with the whole new look, we will now start shooting our next schedule from July 10 to complete 80 per cent of the shoot, and then head to Mangaluru and Goa for the rest.”

The film revolves around the relationship between a mother and son, with Pavithra Lokesh playing the mother. “We initially wanted to bring in Suhasini for the role, but she couldn’t give use the dates we needed,” says Rishi, whose says that the movie runs on its screenplay.

Another interesting bit about this movie is its title -- Muthina Haara -- which was also the name of a 1990 classic, starring Vishnuvardhan and Suhasini. In the current movie, the legendary actor appears as the hero’s father and Prithvi’s character is called Viraj. (In the older film, directed by Rajendra Singh Babu, the couple’s son is also named Viraj). The filmmakers seem to have put in an effort to connect this present movie with the older one, but Prithvi  says that his film has nothing to do with the classic. “In this thriller, I am basically a painter and a student preparing for IAS,” he says.

The film, made under Sindhoora Creations, is more a crowd funded effort with investors from across Karnataka. Muthina Haara features model turned actress Akanksha Poojari in the female lead, and has music by Ajaneesh B Loknath.