Darling Krishna on Lucky Man: It's truly a blessing that Puneeth Rajkumar sir acted in my film

The actor-director speaks of declining a bunch of remake offers and how when Lucky Man came his way, he had no second thoughts about it.

Late Puneeth Rajkumar in a still from Lucky Man

Darling Krishna owns a niche for himself in Kannada Cinema. As someone who tried his hand at the formulaic stuff in the initial years but was unable to find the deserved success, it was the 2020 breakthrough film Love Mocktail that did the trick for him. His fate was in his own hands, so to speak, in this case as he took on the role of direction as well and awarded himself a cult hit: to top things, his soon-to-be real life partner Milana Nagaraj accompanied him as both his co-star and co-producer.

Since then, Krishna has attracted several offers in the romantic-comedy space and continues to be a sought-after star with not one but multiple films lined up ahead. First one in this regard is Nagendra Prasad's Lucky Man wherein he plays the central role of a vexed young man who is given the rare opportunity of encountering God and going back in time to change the course of the past 12 months. Krishna will be seen opposite not one but two leading ladies in the form of Sangeetha Sringeri and Roshni Prakash and by his own admission, he signed on because he had really loved the Tamil original Oh My Kadavule.

"I had never been keen on doing remakes and even declined a bunch of offers for the same. But when I watched Oh My Kadavule back in 2020, it had become my favourite film because I loved the story and how it was presented. So, when this film came my way, I jumped at it because the role suits me. And the fact that the storyline did not require any modification to fit our nativity too encouraged us fully - while the story and treatment are similar to the original, the main difference lies in the performances. Of course, as an actor, I will react to the scenarios and present a completely different body language compared to what the lead actor (Ashok Selvan) did in the Tamil film. And the fact that Appu sir was going to act in it came as a super pleasant bonus and it all fell into place before you know," shares Darling Krishna.

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But when it comes to modern-day actors, the word "suit" could be a double-edged one because while the audience loves to watch an actor revel in the comfort of a character, they also can soon enough become critical if there is repetition in the genre. In Darling Krishna's case, the choice, however, is a conscious one because he is fully aware of the cinema that he personally enjoys and the exact audience he wishes to cater to.

"I wish to be part of films that an entire family could watch and enjoy together. Mass films tend to be polarizing and do not particularly cater to all kinds of audiences - at least in my opinion. But it isn't just about categorizing films because I will have to first relate to the character on the page. If the character seems close to me and I feel excited about portraying it on screen, then I wouldn't mind being in a mass film either," adds Darling Krishna.

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