Kannada industry to mark 75 years in style

Bangalore, Feb 28 (IANS) Southern superstars like Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan and Vishnuvardhan are set to come together as the Kannada film industry celebrates its 75-year existence with a three-day extravaganza that kicks off here Sunday.

The inaugural event at the Bangalore Palace grounds would also be attended by Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, apart from other bigwigs of the film industry like actor-politician Ambareesh, organisers said.

Former actress Jayamala, who is the president of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, said she expects a large crowd for the three-day event and hopes it will revive the fortunes of the Kannada film industry, which is currently facing a deep recession.

She said rehearsals have been on in full swing and members of the film fraternity have shown a great sense of unity like never before.

"We had to close down all activities of the film industry for nearly 15 days to enable artists to prepare well for the rehearsals. And all artists including veterans like Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh and Jayanthi have attended rehearsals with deep interest," Jayamal told IANS.

The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, Kannada Film Producers Association, Kannada Film Directors Association, Cine Workers Federation and Film Artistes Federation are jointly organising the event.

"Both Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan have acted in Kannada films besides having a great fan following in Karnataka. These two artists will be the major attractions of the inaugural event," said C.N. Chandrashekhar, head of the Kannada Film Producers Association.

Actor-producer-director V. Ravichandran is giving final touches to the rehearsals of the cultural programmes to be held Sunday evening. The four-hour cultural programme will see many live dance performances by the southern film stars.

The second day of the celebrations will have a photo exhibition of all Kannada films released so far. Curated by photo journalist K.M. Veeresh, the event would be inaugurated by young Kannada stars Puneet Raj Kumar and Ganesh.

This would be followed by a book release function - 75 books written on people who have contributed to the Kannada film industry in a big way will be unveiled.

The third day will see a seminar on the current trends in the Kannada film industry.