RR Nagar is the new Gandhinagar

The Kannada film industry has moved away from its traditional hub, the bustling Majestic area, to quieter neighbourhoods, writes Muralidhara Khajane

Gandhinagar, once the nerve centre of the Kannada film industry, has lost out to two quieter neighbourhoods in Bengaluru.

Production houses and post-production centres are now located in the south-western part of Bengaluru, especially Nagarbhavi and Rajarajeswari Nagar. Western suburbs such as Vijayanagar and Chandra Layout are also buzzing with cinema-related activities. The shift is attributed to film making switching from celluloid to digital. The first Kannada film to be shot on a digital camera was ‘Nam Areadalli Ondina’ (2010).

“Now 90 per cent of all cinema-related activities are being carried out in areas other than Gandhinagar,” says D R Jairaj, president, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC).

A simple Google search brings up a list of hundreds of editing, recording, and post-production studios in Nagarbhavi and RR Nagar, and not all of them are holes in the wall. “In a way, the shift has pushed cinema creative minds to take to new ways of working,” says Ba Ma Harish, secretary, KFCC.

Many film and TV professionals live in Nagarbhavi and RR Nagar. Also, filmmakers who used to rent rooms in Gandhinagar to write scripts are now renting apartments in these neighbourhoods.

“Every morning, you find at least 20 professionals talking cinema at Nammoora Thindi, a food joint in Nagarbhavi,” says Manjunath aka Mastik, a much sought-after script and dialogue writer. "Similar is the scene at Indraprastha Hotel in Vijayanagar.”

In the ‘50s, the Kannada movie business was concentrated in Chickpet. K V Gupta, who debuted in the film distribution business in 1955, recalls Shantha Pictures was the first to set up its distribution office on the bustling Avenue Road.

“As there was danger of nitrate-based film catching fire, the fraternity decided to shift its distribution offices to Gandhinagar,” he says. Located just across the city bus stand and railway station, it was convenient for film exhibitors to hop across and negotiate deals with producers.

“It was also easy for exhibitors to transport film reels from one theatre to another, given the concentration of theatres in the area. Those glory days are gone with single screens disappearing from Kempegowda Road one after the other,” says producer Sa Ra Govindu.

Times have changed. No one visits distributor offices and carries trunk loads of film reels now. Films are being beamed through digital cinema distribution networks such as UFO and QUBE. Theatre owners and distributors seal their deals over the phone, on conference calls.

Television productions rent houses in Nagarbhavi and RR Nagar for their shoots as well, says Basavaraju, production manager of a TV network.

Akshay Studio in Nagarbhavi is extensively used to shoot reality shows by a popular entertainment channel.

The proximity of Kanteerava Studio, Abbaiah Naidu Studio and Innovative Film City is an added advantage. “About 60 films were produced in a year when Gandhinagar was the hub. Now, with the number at 240 plus, space is short there,” says producer-distributor Umesh Banakar.

Sadhu Kokila, actor, director, and music composer, recently launched Loop Entertainment, his own film production house, with an office in Chandra Layout. He hopes to cash in on the rising demand for content.

Halcyon days

Till the ‘90s, huge cut-outs of heroes loomed over the business district. From a peak of 24, the number of cinema halls here has come down to just five now. “In 1990, Bengaluru had 140 theatres, 15 of them in this area. Twelve of them were located on the busy KG Road alone,” says exhibitor Thomas D' Souza.

Production and distribution firms, editing and recording studios, advertising agencies, graphics and vinyl printing services, film production units, and film trade bodies were all crammed in this area.

Gandhinagar 6th Cross once had major film production houses, such as Vijaya Combines Production house, Eshwari Productions, and KCN Movies. Vajreshwari Combines, belonging to the Rajkumar family, still has its office there.

Although on paper Karnataka has about 2,500 film production companies, only 1,000 are active. Similarly, of the 1,407 listed distribution houses, only 500 are active.

Hotels such as Highlands, where Rajkumar once stayed, Janardhan, Moti Mahal, Tourist, and Kanishka were favourites among film professionals. While Highlands has made way for a commercial complex, the other hotels continue to host them. Some directors and producers, till recently, had permanent rooms booked in these hotels, says Thomas D’Souza.

A major reason for Gandhinagar to flourish was that coordinating was a breeze, says well-known filmmaker S V Rajendra Singh (Babu).

M V Krishnaswamy, a pioneer associated with the film society movement, had his office in Malleswaram during the silent film era, according to producer-director B Suresha. Production houses shifted to Gandhinagar after the advent of ‘talkies’. Later, distributors from other languages started thronging the area, as the number of Kannada films was small.

Gandhinagar’s glory days are over but it will enjoy a prominent place in the history of Kannada cinema.

(The writer is a senior Bengaluru-based film critic).