‘There is no age restriction when it comes to talent’

Director Anil Kumar, known for the Yash-starrer My Name is Kirataka, Sharan’s Rambo 2, Ajay Rao’s Krishna Rukku, is awaiting the release of Dheeren Ramkumar’s Shiva 143. While all his films had young stars as the lead, his next, Kaneyadavara Bagge Prakatane, brings together senior actors — Ravi Shankar, Rangayana Raghu and Tabla Nani — as the leads. “There is no age bar when it comes to entertainment and talent. It is all about choosing characters, and how they blend into the story. Secondly, most of today’s filmmakers want to go by the formulaic commercial entertainers, and it is something even I have done. However, looking from the audience’s point of view, they are updated today and their way of looking at entertainment has changed. So as a writer and director, I should also change the way of looking at scripts, and go by the people’s tastes,” says Anil Kumar, ahead of the film’s release on May 27.

The story travels between 1960’s, the 80s, and the present, and the director shares that the film is about friendship and human values. Incidentally, Anil’s classmate, a police officer, helped him understand more about ‘Missing people’ and it came in handy while making the film. “My friend had a lot of references to give about ‘Missing people’ and I felt it was very interesting. I also researched about elderly homes, and I have used all these inputs in the film. Though it is a sensitive subject, I have given a commercial touch to it, and added a lot of humour and emotional elements to the film,” says Anil.

“I had Ravi Shankar, Rangayana Raghu, and Tabla Nani in my mind right from the scripting stage. Since I had previously worked with all of them, I knew they would be the perfect fit. Luckily, my script had the potential to draw them to our project. Apart from them, the film also stars Chikkanna, Tilak, and Ashika Ranganath,” he says.