Karnataka CM to appear in film

Bangalore, Aug 11 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is all set to make a brief appearance in the forthcoming Kannada film "Preethi Eke Bhoomi Melidhe" to talk about love.

Police officer Subhash Bharani and former underworld functionary Mutthappa Rai will also be seen with Kumaraswamy in the film. Two religious heads with large followings will also join them.

It is not known, however, whether Kumaraswamy will shoot for the scene during his tenure as chief minister or after he hands over charge of the state to his current deputy, B.S. Yediyurappa of the Bharatiya Janata Party..

Kumaraswamy is supposed to do so after he completes 30 months in office in October.

Before coming to power, Kumaraswamy was a film producer and distributor and made several hit films under his banner Channaambika Films.

He started off with the silver-jubilee hit "Suryavamsha", in which Vishnuvardhan played the lead role. His last outing as a producer was "Chandra Chakori", which ran for a year in theatres.

This is not the first time, however, that a chief minister is acting in a Kannada film.

Former chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde appeared in two films - director D. Rajendra Babu's "Marana Mrudanga" and "Prajashakthi". The late Chidambara Shetty produced both the films.