Krishna: Love Mocktail has allowed me to win many hearts

Krishna has been one of the busiest actors in the Kannada film industry ever since the release of his debut directorial venture, Love Mocktail (2020), which also featured him as an actor. However, the second corona wave has turned out to be a hurdle to his upcoming film Love Mocktail 2, which is getting delayed due to the lockdown. “I took some time off for my wedding (with Milana Nagaraj), and by the time I wanted to get back to shooting the remaining portions of the film, the lockdown was announced,” says Krishna ahead of his birthday celebrations.

As a treat to Krishna’s fans, the makers of the actor-director’s upcoming film Sugar Factory will be unveiling a teaser of the film on Anand Audio. Apart from these two films, the actor has a handful of projects on floors - including ShriKrishna@gmail.com, Mr. Bachelor, Nagendra Prasad‘s yet-to-be-titled project. He has also signed in for Deepak Gangadhar’s debut directorial venture Love Me or Hate Me, which is yet to go on floors.

Currently, Krishna is waiting for the lockdown to be lifted, but he is already working on the post-production works for the sequel. He says, “We are left with 12 days of shooting for Love Mocktail 2, which will be resumed once lockdown is lifted. Meanwhile, I have been working on the re-recording, and we are almost through with the background score for the first half of the film.”

Krishan says that Love Mocktail was the watershed moment in his career that gained him the love from the audience and his peers in the industry. “People started saying ‘Krishna has the talent’, and they trusted me more than I did. It was not the case before the film.”

He adds, “Having been in the industry for a decade, I feel two major changes have happened to my career after Love Mocktail. Firstly, as an actor, one can only pick from the projects that come your way, and I wasn’t getting good scripts back then. So, a film has to win for the actors to succeed. Now, directors are looking out to explore different shades of me. Secondly, I used to only get action-oriented subjects before. Currently, after Love Mocktail, directors are approaching me with romantic stories. Love has allowed me to win many hearts. It has enabled me to work in content-oriented scripts.”

Krishna derives inspiration from Dr. Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan and aims to do at least 100 films in his career. “I don’t want to be choosy and end up doing just 20 projects. I prefer to be part of at least 100 films. For me, every film and character is an experience. I prefer such experiences over success. As a director, I would like to make one film every two years.”

Up next, Krishna is planning to direct a sports drama. “Title Mili, the film is about a champion swimmer. Milana Nagaraj, who is a national-level swimmer, will be playing the lead. However, I am yet to begin writing for the project, and will start once I am done with the current commitments,” he signs off.