Exclusive | 'Kiriket 11 combo of Danish Sait & Naveen Shankar is 'odd' but perfect': Karthik Gowda

KRG Studios' most recent production Gurudev Hoysala saw actor Naveen Shankar deliver his breakthrough performance as one of the film's chief antagonists Bali. The actor's portrayal of the brutal and conflicted villain was appreciated by both critics and audiences with many reckoning that that actor, who has shown promise over the last 4-5 years, has finally got his due.

And on the back of this fruitful collaboration, KRG Studios and Naveen Shankar are back together for a new film that comes in complete contrast to their previous venture. Naveen will shed all his savagery and angst (most likely) for this upcoming project that is centred on a subject that almost all of India loves, adores and worships, which is cricket. 

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With an ambitious idea at its heart, the team has put together a film titled Kirik'et 11 (focus is on the word 'Kirik', which means a squabble in Kannada), which also boasts the very enterprising Danish Sait in the other lead role. The unconventional combination of Danish Sait and Naveen Shankar has already made a few heads turn and the makers, too, believe that this 'odd' pairing will enthral everyone.

"The film, in essence, is about a group of boys who are running out of luck and they choose India's biggest thing, cricket, to bring it back. It's a fun, comedy film that boasts a rural backdrop. The script had the scope to cast two exciting talents as the leads and the entire team at KRG felt that Danish and Naveen would be perfect. We convinced the former and gave Naveen a narration and everything fell into place - in fact, there is a whole array of exciting characters in the film which we will announce in due time. We have got Vasuki Vaibhav to do the music with writing the script and Suman Kumar directing it," says Karthik Gowda, the founder of KRG Studios.

Interestingly, Karthik reveals that the film was brought to the studio as a Tamil project by writer Manoj Kumar Kalaivanan but the former immediately expressed the desire to make it in Kannada instead. "Manoj shared a five-pager brief story with us initially with the plans of making it in Tamil. I saw the strength in the subject and said that I would love to come on board as a producer if we make it in Kannada. The team and I just loved the script. And since Manoj is a Tamilian who lives in Bengaluru and speaks Kannada, we were able to adapt the story to a local setting and cast appropriately," adds Karthik Gowda.

Manoj Kumar Kalaivanan has previously assisted Kirik'et 11's director Suman Kumar, who is best known for working as a writer with director duo Raj & DK on the hit web shows Family Man 1 & 2 and the more recent Farzi. Suman Kumar has also directed Hombale Films' upcoming Tamil language debut Raghu Thatha, which stars Keerthy Suresh in the lead.

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When quizzed about the equation that Suman has forged with the Hombale family, Karthik Gowda says, "He is someone we trust as a director and it is important to strike a partnership with such filmmakers. Like Prashanth Neel, Santhosh Ananddram, Rohit Padaki, Pawan Kumar and now Rishab Shetty avru are part of our growing panel of trusted directors, we are confident about Suman Kumar as well."