Exploring the all-new Mandala

Techie-turned-filmmaker Ajay Sapreshkar marks his debut with the sci-fi Mandala, which sees its release on March 10. The film brings together a great set of actors to play interesting roles. It features Anant Nag as an investigative journalist, Sharmiela Mandre as an aerospace engineer, Kiran Srinivas in a unique lead role, Samyukta Hornad as DCP and Prakash Belawadi as a director of the fictitious space agency.

What is more interesting is how the director has planned to make a franchise out of this rare genre in Kannada. The film has a story written by him and screenplay by Prakash Belawadi. Sharmiela says that Mandala came to her at a time when she was re-evaluating her projects and wanted to be part of and that was something challenging. “Being in the industry for over 13 years, I felt the need to choose my scripts wisely, and Mandala happened to be one of those wise scripts. I want to do films, which will help me grow as an actor. Especially with OTT giving us good content, the competition is up there,” says Sharmiela. According to the actor, Mandala is a sci-fi film, and the plot is set in Bengaluru but makes it for world cinema. “The film talks about the world unknown, about aliens, and becomes a film for everyone. Why should aliens only visit America? It is time for them to say hello to Karnataka,” she chuckles.

Kiran, who has done nine films in 10 years, is happy to be back to the silver screen with Mandala, and he has more than a couple of reasons to choose this film. “Firstly, the film has Anant Nag and Prakash Belawadi. It is an opportunity an actor shouldn’t miss. The second reason was the story, and I was blown away by the script. The subject has interesting highs and lows, and there is a lot of imagination. The subject is audacious, at the same time entertaining, and has a logical conclusion to each question thrown. The film brings in various emotions, and I didn’t have second thoughts,” he says.

Kiran also reveals the film has an open ending and has two more sequels planned. “Ajay’s idea is to create a franchise like the Gardens of Galaxy and Avengers in Kannada,” he adds. For Samyukta, the concept of aliens has always been fascinating. And this got her excited about the project. “We have enjoyed alien invasion films in Hollywood, be it the MCU, or Star Wars, the concept of aliens very much existed in all these films, but in India, we hardly had any. So, when such a film is now being experimented on in Kannada. As a girl, who is a big fan of space, I believe in the presence of aliens, and I was all excited to be part of Mandala,” she says.