Hemanth Hegde’s Nam Naani Madve Prasanga sets an April date

Director-actor Hemanth Hegde, best known for films like Nimbehuli, Housefull and Sa in Kannada, is back with his next. A comedy, the film Nam Naani Madve Prasanga, which has Hemanth in the lead, along with Shruthi Nandeesh, Shreya Vasanth and Gitanjali Manjal, was recently censored U/A and the filmmaker-actor had told us that a late March-early April release was on his radar. Hemanth has now zeroed in on the release date for his film. Nam Naani Madve Prasanga will be in theatres across Karnataka on April 7, a week after Daali Dhananjaya’s milestone 25th, Hoysala.

Nam Naani Madve Prasanga also stars Padmaja Rao, Rajesh Nataranga, Madhu Hegde, Giri Shivanna, Sunetra Pandit, Suchendra Prasad (voice over), among others, and has V Manohar as composer. The film’s central theme revolves around how difficult it is for young farmers in the villages of Karnataka to find suitable brides. The story, Hemanth had told us, was inspired by the real-life struggle of one of his close relatives, who could not get married until his late 30s for this reason. The problem, says Hemanth, is that girls do not want to settle for a life in a village. “Those from the city will not marry a village-based agriculturist, while girls from villages want to move to the city. The men who stay back to take care of family agriculture interests are then stuck with the prospect of remaining unmarried,” explains Hemanth.

Set in Sirsi, where Hemanth hails from, with the north Canara dialect spoken in the film, Nam Naani Madve Prasanga is a rooted story with a universal appeal, “Farming maybe considered the backbone of the economy, but farmers get absolutely no respect,” he had told us earlier, adding that the film will explore this sensitive subject in his trademark humorous style.