By Team Mangalorean

Bangalore, March 25: Today more and more talented newcomers and established stars with new ideas are venturing into Kannada film direction with tremendous success rate.  It's indeed a welcome move, so is SMS 6260 by Sundeep Malani.  Sundeep Malani, a multi talented, bright, energetic young man was born in Bombay and brought up in Mangalore, is the son of Ramesh Malani, a film distributor and a close relative of the well known Kapoor Family.  His mother Meena Cutinha is the sister of well know mangalorean Comedian - Dolla.  Sundeep's wife Reshma's father is the brother of Konkan Myna - Meena Rebimbus.

Sandeep with wife Reshma and son Rensan

Sundeep Malani is a Cine Artist, Cine Director, Choreographer, Event Organizer, TV Host, M, Photographer, Costume Designer, Film Journalist, Star Coordinator, an Artist Secretary, and Japanese Interpreter-Translator.  He worked with several directors as an associate and his recent project was Miss California that is due for release.  In the field of movies, he has played an active role in releasing the Kannada film Upendra in Japan and coordinated with the artists of the film.
Sundeep's directorial debut SMS 6260 is for an NRI production banner.   Arasu Family from the USA were impressed with his work and has come forward to produce this film.  Prahalad Arasu and Janu Arasu are venturing into film production under the banner of Shirdi Enterprises Inc. (California, USA). In fact, Janu Arasu has played the female lead role in Miss California. 

SMS 6260 is a fun story, where the main characters interact over SMS messages. It's a story of six good friends who gets into their two ways of life. While it focuses on their campus life with fun and frolic, it moves on to their professional life where takes serious turns. It's going to be all about the new age craze leading to tones of fun.

In a way, SMS 6260 is a crossover movie. Both Kannada and English will be blended as needed and is an ideal example for a 'Kanglish' movie! His idea is basically to capture the scenarios and the situations realistically, where youngsters feel free to mix Kannada words while speaking in English and vice versa. Hyderabad Blues, Mr & Mrs Iyer, Raincoat, Bend It Like Beckham, Jhankar Beats etc. are a few example of such crossover films. SMS 6260 will be launched on April 13th.

It's film of newcomers - from artists to technicians. Besides Diganth and Janu who have been paired in Ms. California, rest are all new faces. Smrti, a young girl from San Francisco plays the other leading role and Karan Gowda, Loy Patrao, Ganesa Murthy, Ashav, Nihar, Badri etc are among the cast. Danny (known for the famous song Oh Maria) and Shyam (the host of SS Music) would also play important roles in the film. Veteran actors Dattanna and Jayalakshmi bring in their expertise. Topping on the list of all actors, mobile phones and SMS Messages play crucial role!

Sundeep Malani  - A Versatile Talent:

Sundeep Malani, was born on November 19, 1971, and brought up with education and professionalism in Mangalore.  His father Ramesh Malani - a Sindhi, who got converted 34 yrs back into Christianity, was a film distributor in Mangalore for many years and was the Manager of Ramakanthi Theatre.  He is the cousin of Actress Babita (Randhir Kapoor’s wife and Karisma/Kareena’s mother).  His mother - Meena Cutinha, is the sister of Dolphy Cutinha, well knows as Dolla, Nandigudda - is a comedian in Konkani films and Konkani theatre. He has done many dramas to his credit not only in Mangalore, Goa, Bangalore and Mumbai, but also in Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi and other places.

Sundeep is married to Reshma, and together they have a son – Rensan Malani.  Reshma's father and Meena Rebimbus are brother and sister.

A movie clip from 'Miss California' (Pic Courtesy: Chithraloka)

He studied in Milagres high school and then he did Bachelor of Business Management in SDM College.  Later he did Journalism course in Sandesha.  He is fluent in English, Hindi, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Tamil, Malayalam & Japanese.

FEATURE FILMS

Associate Director:

ONE TWO THREE (2001-2002 Kannada/Tamil/Telugu):
Directed by K Subhaash (assistant to Mani Ratnam).
The film was shot simultaneously in all the three languages. He has been the sole associate for the Kannada version, while coordinated as an Assistant to the other two versions. He has taken part in all aspects of the film, right from day one to the release date, (Shooting of the entire talkie and song portions, editing, mixing, dubbing, & transferring till obtaining Censor Certificate and later for designing & Publicity of the film).

MANASELLA NEENE (2001-2002 Kannada):
Directed by Mugoor Sundaram (Choreographer and father of Prabhu Deva).
The film, a remake of the Telugu hit, Manasantha Nuvve, was an easy task, as they shot frame to frame all the scenes of the original.  He has been associated for the entire film until completion. The film has released in Hindi with the title Jeena Sirf Merre Liye.

Co-ordination:

SANDHYA (2001 Hindi):
Directed by Sangeet Sivan.
Shot in Bangalore palace, this thriller starring Jackie Shroff, Raveena Tandon and Javed Jaffri is yet to hit the cinema halls. He worked as an assistant for the Bangalore portions, and due to other assignments could not complete with the film.

Unit Assistant:

DIL KA KYA KASOOR (Hindi-1991):
Directed by Lawrence D’Souza.
Days of struggle. Was new to film industry and being a Mangalorean, Lawrence gave him an opportunity to work in his unit. Not knowing much about the film making, he did everything from being a helper/assistant for every department.
The film starred, the late Divya Bharati, Prithvi. The film was a musical hit.

MRIGNAYANI (Hindi-1992):
Directed by Amol Palekar.
Worked as an assistant for a few episodes of the TV serial shot in Nataraj Studios, Mumbai. Pallavi Joshi played the female lead.

Script Writer:

HOO ANTHIYA UHOO ANTHIYA (Kannada - 1999):
The film was made with Ramesh Arvind, Isha Koppikar, Anu Prabhakar, Ruchita Prasad. Praveen Nayak directed the film and Karthik Raja composed songs. 

ONE TWO THREE (Kannada, Tamil & Telugu):
He has been an equal contributor for the script of the film, which was based on the Marathi play, All the Best. Conceived by K Subhaash, the film starred 3 choreographer brothers, Raju Sundaram, Prabhu Deva and Nagendra Prasad along with Jyotika. Deva scored the music for the film.

Dialogue Writer:

ONE TWO THREE (Kannada):
His contribution to the film was translation of the Tamil original dialogues to the Kannada version. Besides, keeping the nativity in mind, he has written original dialogues.

Cine Artist:

BANGAR PATLER (Tulu – 1991):
Costarring Sudharani, Chinna, Waman Raj. He played a comedian-villain in the film.
The film was produced and directed by Dr. Richard Castelino. The film shot in and around locations of Mangalore, the film ran for 105 days in Jyothi Theatre, Mangalore.

SEPTEMBER 8 (Tulu – 1993):
Costarring Geeta, Shruthi, Sunil, Umashri, Dr. Shivram Karanth.  Played a small character role of a comedian. The film was shot in 24 hours (One complete day from 6 AM to next morning 5 AM on September 8th.  9 Cameras with 9 units were used for the completion of the film in the given time. A record, but the final product came to be a loser. The film although an experiment, was a disaster at the box office. Shot entirely in Mangalore, the film was produced and directed by Dr. Richard Castelino.

BOGSANHE (Konkani – 1996):
Costarring Nandini Singh, Pramod Chakraborthy, Vinutha. He played a second lead (Hero) to the heroine Vanishri. The film was shot in Goa, Mangalore and Andaman Islands. The film was a success with 50 days run in Mangalore and a success in Goa too. The film was selected for a screening at a private festival abroad. Directed by Richard Castelino.

Z (Kannada – 1997):
Costarring Prema, Prakash Raj, Ritu Shivpuri. He played a villain in the film. The film produced by Amar and directed by Praveen Nayak was a washout. It was a gimmick film, an answer to Upendra’s success film, “A”. Z was also dubbed in other languages; MAHANATUDU (Telugu), Mr. Z (Tamil)

ARYABHATA (Kannada – 1998):
Costarring Ramesh, Soundarya, Devaraj. He played a character artist in the film. Shot in Bangalore. Ramanath directed the film.

UPENDRA (Kannada – 1998):
Costarring Upendra, Raveena Tandon, Prema, Damini. He was hardly seen in the frames, but he was proud to be associated with the film, as the film was a huge musical success and moreover it won a Filmfare Award too. Upendra himself directed the film. Shot in all parts of Karnataka. The film was also dubbed in Telugu with the same title.

INDRADHANUSH (Kannada – 1999):
Costarring Shivraj Kumar, Monal, Hari Nair, Akankshi, Charulatha. He did a song number for the film, under the title Guest Artist with Guru Kiran.  Shot in Bangalore and Goa. Produced by Shailendra Babu and directed by V Manohar

SWALPA ADJUST MADKOLLI (Kannada – 2000):
Costarring Anant Nag, Suhasini, Tara, Damini, Ram Kumar, Chaitali. He played a character artist in this comedy film shot in Bangalore and directed by Kodlu Ramakrishna.

ONE! TWO!! THREE!!! (Kannada/Tamil/Telugu – 2002):
Costarring Prabhu Deva, Raju Sundaram, Prasad, Jyotika, Abhinayasree, Komal Kumar. He played a dual role in the film, with two different get-ups. As a comedian boss and as Jyotika’s brother. Shot in Bangalore, Chickmagalur, Chennai, Vizag. Hyderabad, Ooty and Malaysia. Produced by B Kumar the film was directed by K Subhaash

MANASELLA NEENE (Kannada – 2002):
Costarring Prasad, Gayatri, Prabhu Deva, Raju Sundaram, Anant Nag, Srinath.
He played a character artist, but a very important role in the film. Shot in Bangalore, Sakleshpur and Malaysia. Choreographer Mugoor Sundaram directed the film.

Film Promotion:

YAARE NEENU CHELUVE (Kannada):
Active part in the promotion and golden jubilee celebration in Mangalore. Directed by Rajendra Babu the film starred Ravichandran, Sangeeta, Jaggesh, Ramesh, Prakash Rai.

SHAAPA (Kannada):
Directed by Ashok Patil, this award winning film starred Ramesh and Anu Prabhakar.

TELEVISION

Tele-Serials:

AHSAAS (Hindi-1992):
Character artist along with Mohan Bhandari, Neena Gupta, and the serial was telecasted for National Doordarshan.

CHANAKYA (Hindi-1992):
Played soldier for 3 episodes, the historical serial made news during its telecast for National DD. Directed by Chandraprakash.

Event Co-ordination:

SUPRABHATA FILM AWARDS (January, 2001):
Played an active role as a committee member for selection of Kannada films, short listing them and finalization for awards. The ceremony took place at Palace Grounds, Bangalore with a host of Kannada film stars participating in the event. The channel, SUPRABHATA TV, telecasted it Live.

TV Host:

UDAYA TV (April, 2002):
Hosted the One Two Three (Kannada) Audio Launch at Koramangala Indoor Stadium, which was telecasted by the channel LIVE.

MANGALORE CHANNEL (1995):
Hosted many quiz shows, Antakshari programmes and Fun games for the local channel of Mangalore.

CITY CHANNEL (1996/97):
Hosted a film based show titled FILMCITY for the channel, wherein film reviews, gossips, interviews, quiz and other related to all language films running in Mangalore city.

Music Videos:

Directed a few of filmi music videos for local channels involving dancers and stage artistes of Mangalore.

STAGE

Theatre:

GUMPUDORI GOVINDHE (Tulu):
Acted in the sentimental drama for stage in Mangalore and Udupi.

NARADA VIJAYA (Kannada):
Played the title role for this mythological play during Dussehra festival.

KALJIGADHA RAVANE (Tulu):
Played mythological character in the dance ballet for various shows in the city.

FLOP SHOW (Hindi):
Played the central character of an old man with two wives and three daughters. This comedy play was inspired by a Pakistani drama.

Besides the above, acted in many English plays during my schooling and college days.

Stage Director/Script/Dialogue Writer:

FLOP SHOW (Hindi):
Besides organizing and playing the central character, have given birth to the play by directing it (25 artists), written the script and the comedy dialogues.

Event Organisor:

JUNGLE ROCK (Feb 21, 1993)
Film Star Nite (Kannada Stars) at Town Hall, Mangalore

SARGAM MUSICAL NITE (Feb 28, 1993)
Musical Nite at Town Hall, Mangalore. Kannada Music Director Guru Kiran was a newcomer during my show.

CHITRAHAAR (Jan 19, 1994)
Filmi Dance Contest at Town Hall, Mangalore. A record, as the show went on for more than 12 hours (3 PM till early morning 2 AM).

FLOP SHOW (Aug 28, 1994)
First Hindi Drama in Mangalore City. The show was performed many a times later.

WAH KYA SCENE HAI (Dec 12, 1994)
Filmi Scene Contest at Town Hall, Mangalore.

HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN..! (Feb 12, 1995)
Valentine Contest at Ladies Club, Mangalore.
RANG HOLI (March 18, 1995)
Holi Dance Contest at KMC Hospital Grounds, Mangalore.

EK KA TEEN (June 19, 1995)
Filmi Fancy Dance Contest at Town Hall, Mangalore.

SA RE GA MA (June 19, 1995)
Singing Talent Contest at Town Hall, Mangalore

FILMI CHAKKAR (August, September 1995)
Filmi Dance/Scene Contest at Outdoor Locations of Mangalore.

PANDA NAMBAAYAR (Oct 27, 1995)
Tulu Drama by Devadaas Kapikaad.

1995 A DANCE STORY (Dec 30, 1995)
A mega Musical Filmi Ballet for 3 non-stop hours at Town Hall, Mangalore.
With the stupendous success, the show was once again performed at Mangala Stadium Grounds, as a part of Karavali Film Festival, Mangalore.  The event was shot and later released as a musical film at Mangalore Cinema Halls.

HUMSE HAI MUQABLA (Dec 30, 1995)
Group Dance Competition at Town Hall, Mangalore.

FLASHBACK (Feb 10, 1997)
Old Remix Dance Contest at St. Agnes School Grounds, Mangalore.

Awards Ceremony:

CHITRAHAAR AWARDS (1994, 1995)
Both the years given awards at a glittering function to the dancers of Mangalore in various categories.

Dance Performances:

BAILA INTERNATIONAL
Baila Dance Performance with International Dancers of Sri Lanka and Portugal.

NACH SOBHAAN
Konkani folk dance performance at Cultural events in Mangalore.

MEDIA

Film Journalist

Newspapers & Periodicals:

THE TIMES OF INDIA & BANGALORE TIMES (1999,2000,2001)
Bascially focused on South Indian films, with the title Simbly South. Articles related to gossips, snippets, and interviews Sunday Film Review of South Indian films in the Main Edition.

CANARA TIMES (1998, 1999)
Two page pull out on Fridays titled Cinema Scope and a Sunday Edition titled Cinema Times, Being the Editor of the Page he designed it. Aricles related to Bollywood, South Indian and Hollywood Films. (Reviews, Snippets, Interviews, Shooting Round up, Quiz etc)

RAKHNO (1999)
Konkani weekly, a page was dedicated to Indian films. (in Konkani language – Kannada script)

FILM INFORMATION (1998)
Mumbai based film journal (trade guide magazine). Articles contributed related to South Indian film industry.

FILM PLUS (1999)
Bangalore based film trade guide. Articles related to Kannada films and its business strategy.

THEATRE WORLD (2000,2001)
An Inflight International Entertainment Magazine. Articles related to Hindi and Regional Films.

ARIST CO-ORDINATION

• Charulatha (Kannada actress) – Introduced to Tamil films with Vijayakanth’s Vallarasu.
• Hari Nair (Model) – Introduced to Kannada film Indradhanush and now, he is busy acting in Malayalam films all thanks to Mani Ratnam’s Alai Payuthey.
• Monal (Actress) – Actress Simran’s sister, introduced to Tamil industry. The actress is no more as she has ended her life.
• Komal Kumar (Kannada actor) – Actor Jaggesh’s brother. Gave a big break in One Two Three and after which he is now in demand for comedy roles.
• Raman Trikha (Hindi TV artist) – got some modeling assignments.
• Ruchita Prasad (Kannada Actress) – Got a few offers, but did not click.

COSTUME DESIGNER

INDRADHANUSH (Kannada)
Designed for Actor Shiv Raj Kumar, Actress Akankshi, Guest Artist Guru Kiran

PREETHSE (Kannada)
Designed for Actors Shiv Raj Kumar, Upendra and actress Sonali Bendre.

FELICITATION & AWARDS

1. Outstanding Young Persons Award for Fine Arts by Mangalore Junior Chambers (15th September, 1998)
2. Master Couple Award (along with my spouse, Reshma) – Mangalore Junior Chambers (13th September, 1996)
3. Young Achiever Best Dancer Award – Received by Sri Jesudas by Tarangini (1994)
4. Best Team Manager Award – Inter Parish Competition at Mangalore (1996)

Honor:

He has been acknowledged with the title Khalid Mohammed of South – for the contribution of South Indian Films to the Media.

Being a Judge for Film Fare (South) Awards at a ceremony held at Chennai – 2000.

Also been a Judge and a Chief Guest for various cultural programmes, events held in Mangalore and Bangalore.
 
Other Details:

• Founder – Chitrahaar Dancers Association. Held the position of the President of the Association with 200 dancers of Mangalore.
• Choreographer – Trained dances for school students of Bala Vidya Vrinda, Milagres, Kerala Samajam, Besant College, Badria College & St. Agnes Special school students.
• Master of the Ceremony –Various functions (weddings, social gatherings, school & college functions, variety shows).
• Photographer – Assistant to Sri Jaggi Gupta (Fashion Photographer) for Stardust Magazine.
• Model – for Mehak Pan Masala (with cine star Kader Khan)

Other Profession: Japanese Translator/Interpreter

Mangalorean.com salutes Sundeep Malani and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.