Hot on the heels of the release of Hemanth Rao’s Kavaludaari, another thriller — Manaroopa — is now in the works. Said to be a psychological thriller, it is directed by Kiran Hegde, who makes his debut.
“90% of Manaroopa has been shot in the unexplored terrains of the Western Ghats. The story captures the dilemma of millennials, their maskaphobia (fear of masks) and the narcissist traits portrayed by us in the virtual world,” explains Kiran Manaroopa, he says means“the face of the mind or its reflection”.
The entire story takes place over 40 hours and “offers a strange experience for the audience to enjoy and probably relate to this era of selfies and self-obsession,” adds the director.
Kiran always had a passion to make films. Though he started off as a communications professional, he was “lured to the world of films and I would watch films of all kinds, including world cinema.”
The change that has stood out to him is that people have gradually moved from interacting with each other to being glued to their tablets, mobile phones or computers. “We prefer talking to those in the virtual world than those beside us,” observes the director.
Talking about the story of Manaroopa,“It is about five friends, who meet after a decade and decide to take off on a trip to the dense forests of the Western Ghats. They choose Karadi Guhe (Bear Cave) as their destination to unwind, recollect the past and share their future dreams.
But, as they embark on their journey, strange things start happening around them.”
There is a surprise element in the film with a popular actor who will come in at the climax, he says, adding that he does not want to reveal much.
The film, which is in post production, has cinematography by Govinda Raj and music by Sarvanaa. It also touches upon issues such as parental attitudes, broken relationships, loneliness, self-obsession, and virtual and real life, says Kiran.
The biggest challenge he faced was “thinking about how to start the shoot itself, the scheduling of the day’s shoot, and keeping up with the deadlines and getting the actors and their dates to coincide; a Herculean task. But, once the project started, things started falling in place.”
Manaroopa is produced by CMCR Movies and features Dilip Kumar, Anusha Rao (a popular face in the world of Kannada television), Nisha BR and Aryan among others.