Daredevil Musthafa releasing on May 19

Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: Daredevil Musthafa, a film based on the popular short story by acclaimed Kannada author KP Poornachandra Tejaswi is set to release on May 19. The trailer of the film was released this week to popular approval. The film has the distinction of being produced by Tejaswi’s fans who have come together to make this crowd-funded venture.

Since its launch nearly two years ago, the film has caught the attention of audience with its unique promotions. From using animated visuals of the late Rajkumar to showing the numerous ‘producers’ of the film in a self-mocking promotional video about the financial burden of making a movie, Daredevil Mustafa has managed to stand apart from the runof-the-mill films.

This is on top of the distinction of adapting Tejawi’s story. While stories of Tejaswi are popular among Sandalwood film makers and quite a few top directors and actors have expressed their desire to make movies out of them, very few have succeeded.

The most successful film out of a Tejaswi story remains the National Award winning Tabarana Kathe directed by Girish Kasaravalli. The film not only won the Best Feature Film award at the 34th National Film Awards but also the Best Actor award for Charuhasan. It also won seven Karnataka State Film Awards and is considered one of the best films in India of all-time.

SHORT FILM TO FEATURE FILM

So the burden on director Shashank Soghal is understandable. He has not only roped in Tejaswi’s fans to produce the movie but also a bunch of newcomers in the cast. Soghal shot to fame with the short film Pathinga. This is his debut as a director in a full length feature film. He has also scripted the film.

The story is about Musthafa, who joins a college in a nondescript town ending up as the only Muslim there. This leads to a series of love-hate incidents with the other students. Though timid by nature, Musthafa earns the sobriquet ‘Daredevil’ in an unwilling match-off. Though Tejaswi’s story itself is a few pages long, Soghal and his team have managed to turn it into a full-fledged movie.

Shishri Baikady plays the lead role in the film. Other newcomers include Aditya Ashree, Abhay, Supreeht Bharadwaj, Aashith, Srivatsa and Prerana. Among established actors, Poornachandra Mysuru is introduced as a character that is not present in the original story.

Nagabhushana is seen in the role of a lecturer. Actor-producer Daali Dhananjaya has joined hands with the filmmakers to present the film. He was also seen in a couple of promotions of the film introducing the new lead actor. Director Sohghal has also tried to be unique with the trailer with popular Kannada travel Youtuber Dr.Bro used as a narrator