Mummy and Devaki fame Lohith to direct Prajwal’s Mafia; film to go on floors on December 6

This is Lohith's first directorial that is not based on a story written by him.

Prajwal Devaraj in the first look from the film

Lohith H made a name for himself in the Kannada film industry with two back-to-back content-oriented movies with Priyanka Upendra in the lead, namely Mummy-Save Me and Devaki. But by his own admission, Lohith is a big fan of ‘commercial cinema’ albeit those with a solid story. In fact, he was all set to foray into that territory with a film called Sathyamangala with Shivarajkumar. “After Devaki, I was working on the script of Sathyamangala. But then, the pandemic struck and all schedules went awry, so much so that it eventually turned out that I would get Shivarajkumar sir’s dates only in April 2022, at the earliest. I thought that would too long a gap for me as a filmmaker since Devaki and since a script was ready, I decided to direct something else,” says the filmmaker.

Lohith’s new directorial is Prajwal Devaraj’s 35th film, Mafia. It is also the first film that Lohith has not written. “I was quite excited by the story. The script is by a Chennai-based writer, whose story I have adapted into the screenplay, in discussion with him. I am not hung up about working only on my own stories and believe that good content, irrespective of who has written it, has to be brought to audiences,” he says.

Lohith adds, “After the official muhurtha on December 2, we will go on floors on December 6 with a 35-day schedule in Bengaluru. For the second schedule we will then head to Ramoji Film City for 15 days. The film requires an action sequence in a train, and doing that with permission from Railway authorities is easier said than done, which is why we are heading to Hyderabad. The film city has all the necessary infrastructure, including a train, station, etc. which we need. In fact, if you have your budget in place, all you need to do is bring your artistes to Ramoji Film City. You can shoot an entire film here without heading anywhere else.”

The film sees Prajwal play a cop in a gangster film that explores human trafficking. “The pandemic changed content consumption patterns of audiences and the focus for filmmakers has to be to give them fresh content. Today, even if you ask a cab driver what he is watching on OTT these days, he will probably tell you Money Heist or Narcos. There is an audience for this genre. Mafia, in that sense, has fresh content, but with commercial aspects that work for the image of my leading man, Prajwal. I am equally excited and nervous about executing this project,” says Lohith, adding that Aditi Prabhudeva will be paired with Prajwal. Anoop Seelin has been roped in for the music, with Maasthi writing the dialogues.

Meanwhile, Lohith’s debut production Life Is Beautiful, which has Pruthvi Ambaar in the lead will probably release sometime in early 2022. “The film is ready, but December has big-ticket releases lined up. Our film is a smaller, content-rich project that cannot compete with these major biggies. So, we are looking for a window in, say, February next year to release it,” he signs off.

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