Producer Vivek Kodappa talks about his debut film Mahira

If you take a close look at the cast and crew of a lot of

Kannada

movies these days, it is astounding to see the sheer number of engineers who have turned to cinema, either in front of the camera or behind it. Joining them this week is

Vivek Kodappa

, who turns producer with

Mahira

under his banner,

Jackfruit Productions

. “Movies have been a passion for a very long time. I used to write and direct skits when I was in college, but went into a full-time engineering job. I have been in the UK since 2005, where I have been involved in Kannada cultural activities. I met Mahesh Gowda, the director of Mahira, at one of these and we hit it off from the word go. We had spoken about making a Kannada film some day, and he took it seriously. We began with eight subjects, but finalised Mahira as our first project, as it is a suspense thriller, which could be made on a relatively lower budget,” explains Vivek.
Vivek and Mahesh had a presentation about the film with a few friends in London, all of who showed interest in funding it. “We wanted to crowd-fund to make Mahira, but the money came from close friends itself, after which we set up the production house,” says Vivek. The objective of the banner, he adds, is to make good Kannada films, which have the potential to be remade in other languages. “But everything hinges on how Mahira does at the box office,” says Vivek.