Late Sanchari Vijay’s film on deforestation and global warming, Taledanda, to release on April 1

Directed by Praveen Krupakar, the film sees the late National Award-winning actor play a differently-abled tribal, who fights to preserve nature.

Late Sanchari Vijay and Chaitra Achar in the film

In June last year, Kannada cinema lost a brilliant actor when Sanchari Vijay passed away from injuries sustained in a bike accident. Prior to his demise, though, the National Award-winning actor had completed a few projects, like Melobba Mayavi and Taledanda, both of which are now gearing up for release. Taledanda will release in theatres on April 1.

Directed by debutant Praveen Krupakar, this is a film that has been doing the festival rounds and been widely acclaimed in the circuit. The buzz has been that Vijay’s portrayal of a differently-abled tribal called Kunne Gowda, who fights to preserve nature by standing up against the timber mafia, in this tale that also puts the spotlight on the rapidly depleting green cover and global warming, is deserving of another National Award. As his character from the film, Vijay sported fake buck teeth, and spoke in the dialect of the Soliga tribe, who live in the Chamarajanagar forest area of Karnataka. The actor spent considerable time with members of the tribe prior to the shoot of the film.

Last year, Praveen had been at the receiving end of widespread criticism when he chose to release the teaser of Taledanda shortly after Vijay’s demise. At the time, he had clarified that he had done it as a creative tribute to the immense talent Kannada cinema had just lost. Also doing the rounds back then were videos of Vijay dubbing for the film with the fake set of teeth to ensure that he stayed in character.

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