Throughout his decade-old journey in the Kannada film industry, Darling Krishna had to prove people wrong. It has helped him build confidence, which has grown manifold after the success of ‘Love Mocktail 2’. It saw off competition from marquee films of other industries and towered over a long list of backlog of Kannada films to emerge as the first blockbuster of the year from Sandalwood.
‘Love Mocktail’ was seeing full houses due to word of mouth before Covid-19 stopped its run in theatres in 2020. The film was one of the first Kannada movies to hit the OTT space in the pandemic era. It was widely watched, so much so that Krishna offered an option to pay the ticket price online for ‘thousands who felt guilty of not watching the film in theatres’. This propelled Krishna to think of a sequel.
“Love Mocktail was a complete film. To write the continuation of the story was challenging but I wanted to undertake the challenge,” he tells Showtime. Did he ever worry about the proverbial curse of the sequel? “First, people told me I am not fit for films. I was then told I am not cut out for direction. There were talks that the success of the first part was a fluke. So I had enough motivation to make a sequel,” he says.
Such was his confidence that he claims to have rejected a handsome deal from the OTT platforms and opted for a theatrical release. It didn’t bother him that his previous flick ‘SriKrishna@gmail.com’ was a flop.
Growing up in Mysuru, Krishna was drawn to films. He moved to Bengaluru for his MBA. “I was clear that I had to be in films. The MBA degree was for my father (sic),” he informs.
Perseverance is key for outsiders, he says. “In 2010, I befriended Puneeth Rajkumar sir and Suri sir in a gym. After much requests, they roped me in as an assistant director for ‘Jackie’,” recollects Krishna, who was also an aspiring actor then. The sensibilities of Suri and Krishna are as different as chalk and cheese but the latter was happy to get a ringside view of filmmaking from the maverick director.
“I learnt shot composition. I understood the art of writing a film and translating that on screen,” he says. His days as the lead in the Kannada serial ‘Krishna Rukmini’ also helped. “In a serial, if we would have 20 minutes of footage, the same effort would result in two minutes of footage in a film. This inspired me to be more meticulous in cinema,” he explains.
Krishna’s success story is incomplete without acknowledging the role of actor and his wife Milana Nagaraj. Love blossomed when they met in 2013 on the sets ‘Nam Duniya Nam Style’. The ‘Love Mocktail’ films are a collaborative effort of the duo. Apart from acting, Krishna donned the role of the writer-director while Milana handled the production.
Milana’s character Nidhima is the backbone of the franchise. The character is irresistible. Her chatty and playful personality won people’s hearts. Their relationship dramas are a big hit with the college crowd, an important section for box office collections. “Milana loves acting but we must get more roles like Nidhima. Such characters come once in a while,” he says.
They are a power couple, perhaps the one of the few right now in the Kannada industry. Their idea of filmmaking, as seen from the two hits, is a good mix of soothing music, beautiful locales and a heart-touching climax. They have clicked as a team, complementing each other in every department.
“We watch a lot of movies together. We try to learn from the positive aspects of the film. We disagree on creative decisions but at the end of the day, we trust each others’ instincts. For instance, she wasn’t convinced with the opening song ‘Ninadena Januma’ but I stuck to it because I knew it will grow on people,” he says.
Their writing shines in the emotional parts but many have disapproved of the films’ crude humour. “Body shaming is rampant in society. I just tried showing that in the film,” he says.
Barring ‘Madarangi’ (2013), Krishna’s acting career never took off. But he hung in there. “To be honest, acting doesn’t excite me as much as direction. I want to tell stories I believe in. People shouldn’t take relationships for granted. This is what I conveyed in ‘Love Mocktail 2’,” he signs off.