Two Kannada biggies heading for a showdown

August seems to be a funny month as far as the release of Kannada films are concerned. The first and third week saw no release while the second week had one release -- the much awaited Raaj, the Showman starring Puneet Raj Kumar and Priyanka Kothari. But in the last week, two big films are competing with each other. 

Cheluvina Chilipili by S Narayan is the remake of the Telugu film Koththa Bangaru Lokam produced by Dil Raju.

Cheluvina Chilipili starring Narayan's son Pankaaj and debutant actress Roopika is being released amidst big hype not normally associated with his films. Narayan has ensured huge publicity drive by putting up vinyl hoardings all over the major cities. 

For Pankaaj this is the second film after his debut Chaithradha Chandrama opposite the sensational Amoolya.

"Pankaaj has improved a lot. He looks better and has done well in songs and emotional sequences," said Narayan, director and father.

He is also delighted to introduce 17-year-old Roopika, a child artist earlier, as the leading lady. "She is such a fast learner that I consider her as the most promising young actress of today. She is perhaps the only actress who I have not criticised on the sets," remarked Narayan. 

Incidentally, the audio of the film has become a hit thanks to the music by Mickey J Meyers. Some of the tunes of the original film have been used in the Kannada film, which Narayan is not apologetic about. And for the first time in his film, he has shot two songs -- one abroad and another in Rajahmundry.

The other film going head to head with Cheluvina Chilipili is Iniya, a film  directed by 'Mussanje' Mahesh who has also written the story and screen play.

The film has music by Sreedhar, who along with the film's director Mahesh made a sensational debut in Mussanje Maathu (Sudeep and Ramya in the lead).

Balaji and Pooja Gandhi play the lead roles. Balaji faces his big litmus test in his career as he has returned to acting in Kannada films after a long gap.

According to Mahesh, Balaji has delivered a strong performance in the film. "He is particularly terrific in the emotional sequences. The first half has a lot of comedy elements where both Bajaji and Pooja Gandhi have excelled. The second half is so interestingly narrated that I do not have any doubts about its acceptance," said Mahesh.