'Varsha' banks on Vishnu's image

Bangalore, April 21 (IANS) "Varsha" is a much-anticipated film and not just because of the star presence of Vishnuvardhan. The film also has the talented Ramesh Arvind in the lead, raising hopes further as the duo had appeared in last year's biggest hit "Aaptha Mithra".

The film is directed by S. Narayan, considered one of the best in the industry. He has directed four films with Vishnu so far - "Veerappa Nayaka", "Suryavamsha", "Jameendhaara" and "Simhadhriya Simha". All were big box-office hits.

Narayan had earlier directed "Mourya" with Puneet and Meera Jasmine for producer Rockline Venkatesh in the lead. The film completed 100 days in 10 centres in Karnataka.

"Varsha", which also stars Maanya, Anu Prabhakar and Shobharaj, is a remake of the Malayalam hit "Hitler" with Mammootty in the lead. The film was later made in Telugu with Chiranjeevi playing the title role. Both these films were successful.

Vishnu plays a good-Samaritan brother of seven sisters. Trade pundits feel that the story of the film and the hero's character just fit into Vishnu's image.

Earlier, Vishnu played the loving elder brother's role in "Yajamana", which became a blockbuster.

Vishnu's large female fan following may generate considerable revenue for "Varsha".

The film's audio - it has music by S.A. Raj Kumar - has already been released and is doing brisk business.