Pentagon, an anthology for everyone

Anthologies are rare in Kannada cinema. What was once tried by legendary director, Puttanakanagal, was followed by Rishab Shetty’s Katha Sangama in 2020 and Rohit Padaki tried his hand with Dayavittu Gamanisi. The latest addition to this format is director and producer Guru Deshpande’s Pentagon. His upcoming anthology is a collection of five stories, directed by different filmmakers. Each story is unique and features well-known actors.

The theme that unites all the segments in Pentagon is death, and the segments are directed by Deshpande himself along with Akash Srivatsa, Raghu Shivamogga, Chandramohan, and Kiran.
When asked to share their views on death, Deshpande says. “What begins with death, ends with death.” Chandramohan, on the other hand, says, “Death will come to you, only when it’s your turn.”  According to Akash Srivatsa, “The bitterness of death makes you realise the sweetness of a precious life.” Raghu Shivamogga says, “The birth of every intention comes with the death of its consequences,” while Kiran Kumar states “Life discriminates, but death doesn’t.”

Calling it an ambitious project, Guru Deshpande shares the reason behind launching the project. “I wanted to bring short films to the fore, and not limit it to YouTube releases. Stories put together can be brought out on a big scale as a feature film. Being a founder of a film institute, I feel today’s students need special education in filmmaking, and this project allowed a handful of students to gain experience in cinema. At least 6 students were part of each episode and they gained practical knowledge. Projects like this help in building the core of newcomers, while experimenting with a new format.” Guru Deshpande believes that the anthology spearheaded by him is a commercially viable outing as it features very well-known actors like Kishore, Prakash Belawadi, Ravi Shankar, Pruthvi Ambaar along with some new faces in different stories, and it has been shot on a big scale.

“The five episodes helmed by different directors, have interesting commercial elements. The anthology has segments which belong to genres like thriller, dark comedy, emotional drama and anti-casteist drama. The advantage of an anthology is that audience can pick up their favourite story and genre,” he adds.
The film made under the G Cinemas banner also includes Pramod Shetty, Tanisha Kuppanda, Prithiki Deshpande, and Prerarana Kambam. Pentagon has music scored by Kadri Manikanth.