‘Gurudev Hoysala is more than just another hero-villain face off’

Vijay N, who worked with his good friend and director, Santhosh Ananddram in Mr and Mrs Ramachari, and Raajakumara marked his directorial debut with the romantic drama, Geetha, starring Ganesh. The writer-director chose to go with a contrasting action thriller as his sophomore film and that idea gave birth to Gurudev Hoysala. “It is not only with actors who like to experiment, even directors like to test the waters with different genres. Moreover, action has been my favourite genre and those films fascinate me a lot. I wrote Gurudev Hoysala during the lockdown. The production house, KRG Studios, and actor Dhananjay chose to go ahead with this subject as they felt it was fresh, and everything fell in place soon,” says the director, who believes action films are for all seasons. He also stated that Dhananjay is an intense actor and best fits the bill for actioners.

Considering Gurudev Hoysala is Dhananjay’s 25th film, did it add more responsibility to the director? “Gurudev Hoysala was not planned to be Dhananjay’s 25th when were ideating it. I realised it only when it was officially announced on January 14, last year. However, it did not create any kind of pressure on me. We treat every project as our first one,” he says.

Gurudev Hoysala features Dhananajay as a cop and the director chose to set this film in the backdrop of North Karnataka. “The backdrop holds a lot of importance with certain subjects and not many films have explored North Karnataka. Even though the incidents brought out in our film can happen even in Bengaluru, people aren’t disturbed a lot by their occurrence. But when people read about it in North Karnataka, they understand the severity levels. Hence we choose the locale.”

So what does Vijay intend to tell through Gurudev Hoysala? “I am mirroring the events that are happening in the society, presenting the situation, which leads to discussion and debates. Gurudev Hoysala is not just about a hero chasing the villains, there is more to this cop drama. We are talking about their mindsets, their opinions, their thinking, etc. There are more traits to the character, Gurudev Hoysala, and only one is shown in the trailer. How a cop, who undergoes a lot of pressure, reacts to a situation is brought out through Gurudev Hoysala’s character. We have also shown the humane side.”

“The film in brief talks about Maharashtra and Karnataka border dispute. This film can be enjoyed if the audience can connect to all these elements," says Vijay who feels that every film should kickstart a conversation. “As a director, I don’t want to pass any kind of judgment, instead I want to leave it to the audience to decide right and wrong.”

Vijay shares that he met a few cops to study their lifestyles. However, he has not taken any direct reference to any case but has explored how the cops handle such cases. “As a writer, I like to address issues through my films. Geetha, my first directorial, despite being a romantic drama was based on real-life incidents and had a blend of commercial elements.  Likewise, Gurudev Hoysala is also based on some incidents that have taken place in society. I will stick to this pattern in my future films too, but I will ensure that they are also commercial entertainers,” he explains.

Vijay has managed to cast a good set of actors for Gurudev Hoysala. Along with Dhananjay, the film has Naveen Shankar, and Prathap Narayan, as antagonists.

The film’s music is by Ajaneesh Loknath and Karthik S is the cinematographer. Gurudev Hoysala also stars Amrutha Iyengar, Andrew Avinash (KGF), and new faces Mayuri Nataraj and Anirudh Bhat in important characters.

“I have just finished uploading the film. Every actor has outdone my expectations. This project presented by Vijay Kiragandur wouldn’t have been possible without the support of producers Karthik Gowda, Yogi G Raj, and actor Dhananjay. I’m now waiting for Gurudev Hoysala to hit the silver screen on March 30,” he says.