‘Keeping Sanchari alive through the film’: Janardhan Johnny

The director of the Kannada film Pirangipura says that they are looking for an actor to step into the late actor’s shoes

“The Kannada film Pirangipura was supposed to launch the late actor, Sanchari Vijay, as an action hero,” says the director Janardhan Johnny. “Fate had other plans. The film is about 40% done and sees Sanchari Vijay in two roles as a young, dynamic soldier and a 60 something angry man.” Vijay passed away in a motorcycle accident on June 15, 2021. The film, Johnny says, is set in a fictional desert called Pirangipura in Rajasthan. The protagonist, Vijay, is travelling from Karnataka to Pirangipura. “We created extensive prosthetics for Vijay as we wanted him to look different for the two ages he plays in the film. We also created a 3-D rubber model of the actor. We faced budget constraints and the shoot had to be stalled due to the pandemic and the lockdown and then we lost Vijay.”