March 19, 2024

Silk Manju of ‘A’ fame to helm Upi @ 50

Bengaluru 24th March 2017. What do you call a guy who walks away from …Success? BG Manjunath fondly called Silk Manju, the producer of the iconic ‘A’ that raked in over Rs 25 crore 18 years ago and had a silver jubilee run in 20 theatres, established Upendra as an accomplished superstar and won him the State best actor award, launched Gurukiran as a music director who also bagged an award. Cameraman Venu also debuted in the film that so caught the imagination of film lovers that it was made in Telugu and Tamil too.

For the millennial generation, ‘A’ released in 1998 was a psychological thriller tautly told through multiple flashbacks of a torn love between a film director and an actress. As director, Upendra showed glimpses of the legendary Puttanna Kanagal in the way he blurred the lines between mainstream and offbeat style of narrating the story. Upi adroitly used the reverse screenplay mode to throw the viewer off track and thus ensured repeat audience.

After ‘A’’s record success, the Sandalwood industry was literally at his beck and call, but Silk Manju as he is called, chose to take a sabbatical – for a little less than two decades.

Rather mysterious and inexplicable. Just like the film he produced.

But for Silk Manju, there’s nothing mysterious about his long absence from the industry. Like, he has his other businesses to tend to. Or maybe he didn’t get a script that possessed him like ‘A’. More likely, it’s the hand of Destiny which pushed him back to Sandalwood at the right time, i.e. to produce a film that would mark Upi’s golden jubilee in Sandalwood.

Silk Manju is on the hunt for a script befitting Upi’s trademark style and image and also landmark as Upi’s 50th film. Right now, he’s not willing to reveal anything other than it being a commercial thriller of sorts, which will be typically Upi-like: Expect the unexpected, predict the unpredictable. Music icon Ilayaraja is being tapped to compose the music for the movie.

Helmed with the silken touch of the elusive but hugely successful Silk Manju, you can be sure of one thing: Up @ 50 will set the box office on fire.

Want a drop a line to Silk Manju. Email Silkmanju15@gmail.com.

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