“Yash will become the country’s discussion when KGF releases on December 21. I am happy that I will be a small part of that success,” said Vishal, introducing the Kannada star to a Tamil audience at the film’s press meet recently. Vishal Film Factory, the actor’s production company, is releasing KGF in the state.
Produced by Vijay Kiragandur under the banner of Hombale Films, and directed by Prashanth Neel, KGF is a period drama that narrates the tale of the Kolar Gold Fields since the time of its discovery. Yash and Srinidhi Shetty, lead actors of the movie, were in the city for promotions.
Tasked with introducing the movie, Vishal opened his speech saying, “I had a personal reason to accept the movie. My father used to do business in areas around KGF. Hence I could relate to the story.”
About the actor, he said, “Yash is like a brother to me. During the time of the floods, he was the first person to respond. The first truck came within 12 hours.” So, releasing the movie in the state was his way of returning that favour, said Vishal.
The Sandaikozhi star also spoke of Yash’s father’s humility to stick to his job as a bus driver, and said, “Yash’s father was and still is a bus driver, despite him becoming a huge star. He is a superhero to me.”
“Save for the colour, Yash is my mirror image,” he added, saying Yash too was trying to help a drought-hit village, like Vishal who had recently adopted a village in Thanjavur district affected by Cyclone Gaja. The actor also said that he wasn’t taking a ‘single rupee’ for the movie. “I am not doing this for money, I am doing this for my friend,” said Vishal.
Yash then took over, and spoke in perfectly fluent Tamil which he said he learnt by watching Tamil films. He said Vishal was a friend with his heart in the right place: “People like him don’t come by often in life.”
Yash had got other language film offers before KGF, but he didn’t want to sign up without understanding the place’s culture. He says the movie theatre was like a temple to him, and its people were not biased: “I was nobody in Karanataka. But people liked my work. Hence they loved me. Now I am a newcomer in Tamil.”
In a later session comparisons between Rajinikanth and Yash were drawn, since both were from Karnataka, and since Rajini too had worked as a bus conductor. But to this Yash simply said, “Comparing me and Rajinikanth would be a sin.”
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Vishal’s advice to the Kannada star was: “If the Tamil viewer loves you once, they’ll never forget you. But the content of the movie has to be good, then they’ll consider you as a family member.”
He announced that actor Tamanna will be making a special appearance in one of the film’s songs, and said we can expect KGF to be ‘an experience in itself’. He lauded technicians who worked on the project, saying, “KGF will do to Kannada cinema what Baahubali did to Telugu.”
KGF will release on December 21 in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment has acquired the Hindi distribution rights. The film is expected as a pan-Indian release, one of the reasons to release it on December 21 despite a slew of films, including Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero, releasing that same day.