''Nanna Preethiya Hudugi'' () is a 2001 Indian

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

-language

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed and written by

Nagathihalli Chandrashekar Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter and a lyricist who predominantly works in Kannada Cinema. He made his film debut as a screenplay writer in ''Kadina Benki'' (1986) which won the National Film Award for Best ...

. It stars newcomers

Dhyan Sameer Dattani, also known as Dhyan (in the Kannada film industry), is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi and Kannada films. Career Born into a Gujarati family in Bombay, Dattani has worked in Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil cinema, He is fluent ...

and Deepali in lead roles and actors such as

Lokesh Lokesh (; 19 May 1947 – 14 October 2004) was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada plays and films. His wife Girija Lokesh is an actress and film director. His father was Subbaiah Naidu, who is credited to be first hero of Kannada silent mo ...

Bhavya Bhavya is an Indian actress. She has acted in several Kannada and a few Tamil and Telugu movies. She was a top heroine of Kannada cinema during 1985–1992. She switched over to key supporting roles post 2000. She is settled in Mumbai, India ...

and

Suresh Heblikar Suresh Heblikar ( kn, ಸುರೇಶ ಹೆಬ್ಳೀಕರ) is a Kannada filmmaker, director and actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional med ...

in other prominent roles. The film is produced by Jyothi Shankar and Uma Shankar for East West Creations India (Pvt) Ltd. The story is based on Chandrashekar's own decade-old short story "Malenada Hudugi, Bayaluseeme Huduga". The film was reviewed as average by the critics, and it was declared a musical hit at the box-office. It went on to win two awards at the

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

for 2001.

Cast

as Puttu * Deepali as Chinnu *

as Maduve Manjaih *

as Seetha *

Vijayalakshmi Singh Vijayalakshmi Singh is an Indian actress, director, costume designer and producer in Kannada. She has acted in more than 50 Kannada films and is actively involved in television projects. Early life Vijayalakshmi was born in Mysore to film pe ...

* Richard Louis - As postman *

Chitra Shenoy Chitra Shenoy is an Indian actress and producer in South Indian movies and television series. She has acted in more than 600 films in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, and Hindi. She is known as the 'young mother' in the Kannada film ind ...

in a brief role as a teacher

Voice-overs

Rajesh Krishnan Rajesh Krishnan is an Indian playback singer and film actor. Although he is known for his works in Kannada films, he has sung in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and other languages Making his mainstream debut in the film ''Gauri Ganesha'' (1991) ...

for Dhyan *

Nanditha Nandita or Nanditha is an Indian feminine given name. Notable people * Nanditha (born 1978), Indian singer * Nandita Adhiya, Indian cricketer * Nandita Behera, Indian classical dancer * Nandita Berry, (born 1968), Indian American attorney * Na ...

for Deepali

Production

After the stupendous success of

's previous venture, ''

America America ''America America'' (British title ''The Anatolian Smile''—a reference to an ongoing acknowledgment of the character Stavros' captivating smile) is a 1963 American drama film directed, produced and written by Elia Kazan, adapted from his own b ...

'' (1995) which was shot entirely in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, he came up with another campus romantic story set at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. For this, he went on a rigorous schedule for casting the leading actors. He conducted a walk-in interview in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

for which over 1,000 candidates appeared and 10 were shortlisted. None of them cleared the screen test. He then conducted the same in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

where he shortlisted

Sameer Dattani Sameer Dattani, also known as Dhyan (in the Kannada film industry), is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi and Kannada films. Career Born into a Gujarati family in Bombay, Dattani has worked in Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil cinema, He is fluent ...

, a model who had previously appeared in a few

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

s and music videos. He later shortlisted the female lead Deepali, a Bangalore-based girl who was settled in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, online and a subsequent screen test. Playback singers

and

were roped in to do the voice-overs for the lead actors.

Mano Murthy Mano Murthy is an Indian musician and composer in the Kannada film industry. His is best known for his songs in '' Mungaru Male'', one of the biggest hits in the Kannada industry. Before moving onto becoming a composer, he was an entrepreneur, ...

was chosen by Chandrashekar to score for the film. They met in the US in December 1999 when the latter first narrated the story to the latter. Chandrashekhar upon returning to India made another trip to the US, and shot some videos of cars in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

before showing it to Murthy, and asked him to compose a tune to it. After the latter "made a very simple tune", Chandrashekhar wrote "Car Car", the lyrics to it, following which Murthy set them to the tune. Most of the filming was held on the Michigan State University campus; the water sport sequence was shot from white water rafting in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

International release

The film completed a 100-day run in Karnataka across many cinema halls. Later, this was internationally released by T.M.S. International with English subtitles.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Manomurthy Songs
/ref> to the lyrics of

. The song "Car Car Ellnodi Car" became a massive hit song and ruled the audio charts for many months.

Awards

49th Filmfare Awards South The 49th Filmfare Awards South ceremony honouring the winners and nominees of the best of South Indian cinema in films released 2001, is an event that held on 20 April 2002 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai. The awards were distributed at ...

Filmfare Award for Best Director - Kannada ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...

References

External source

Songs

Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanna Preethiya Hudugi 2001 films 2001 romantic drama films Films set in insular areas of the United States Films set in Detroit Films scored by Mano Murthy Indian romantic drama films Films shot in Detroit Films based on short fiction 2000s Kannada-language films Films directed by Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar