Everyone is passionate about something. This fervour drives them to reach their goals, irrespective of the obstacles, they may face on the journey. Todays episode of NRI Newsmaker, is about one such human being.
Meet Deepak Somashekhara, a Kannadiga techie, resident in the UAE, who’s infatuation with Kannada movies, pushed him to bring them to the Gulf, and bring happiness not only to himself, but also to many others.
Born and brought up in Bangalore, Karnataka, Deepak holds a Master’s Degree in Computer science. He is a software engineer who has served in top IT companies in multiple locations like India, Australia, Germany, Switzerland and other European Countries over the past 14 years. He is currently working for Acer Computers in Dubai since 11 years.
His love for Kannada Movies was fueled by his own acting talent. He was always interested in dramatic and cultural activities, even as a childhood. He got a platform to boost his talent at “BIMBA” headed by well know theater artist A.S. Murthy where various areas of acting, dancing, painting and singing were nurtured. He has participated in stage shows, road shows and social awareness rallies during college days and has taken up many social service initiatives under the umbrella of NSS for 3 years during his college days.
After staying in Dubai for over 9 years and being the hardcore Kannada movie buff that he was, he was very disappointed that even though the country has developed to great extent in many respects, Kannada movies were not released in Gulf.
Deepak spoke to Newskarnataka.com about what inspired him to bring Kannada movies to the Gulf. “Firstly, Kannada is my mother tongue. Secondly, I was immensely interested in Art and Drama. Hence, watching Kannada films, by default, became a passion and it was the mode of entertainment for me growing up. After relocating to Dubai, without choice I had to give up on Kannada films as I realized they were not being released here in the Gulf. This inspired me to bring in Kannada movies”, he said. Further, speaking about his interest in art, he said that he enjoys painting and that it is one of his favourite hobbies.
He began by releasing Kannada movies in Gulf with the support of his friends and his brother who is in Bengaluru. It was never easy, and he did’nt expect it to be. Some of these hurdles that came his way, included inserting Arabic sub titles for the movies to be released, clearing all the norms and procedures so as to be able to have the movies released in Dubai and finally, one of the biggest challenges of them all, – reaching out to the Kannadigas in the emirates and bringing them to the theaters. “Unlike other Indian communities, the Kannada crowd’s enthusiasm for the their own movies is surprisingly comparatively limited. Despite that, our continuous effort of reaching out to Kannadigas and seeking their support made a difference. Kannada organizations and Kannada web media across all the regions were my biggest support in reaching out to the gulf Kannadigas”, he said while speaking about how he got through this herculean task.
Over the past 3 years he has successfully screened 9 super hit Kannada movies in UAE, Qatar and Oman. Despite all of these efforts, he says that it is unfortunate that his team is still not able to recover the cost and the efforts he has had to put in to fulfill his love for Kannada movies. Despite a lack of support from the Kannada film industry, his spirit remains undaunted, and he still hopes to bring in more Kannada movies to this region.
He laments, “There is not enough support from the Kannada Film Industry. Instead of encouraging International releases, they concentrate on making money out of giving the rights where we won’t even recover from the basic expenditure we make for releasing”, he said, and added that the industry itself should take more initiatives to screen movies, plan for movie premier shows along with the star cast etc or any such activities related to movies so as to build the market out there.
Being an active member of Kannada groups and organizations in Dubai, Deepak is always up and ready to support all Kannada programs be it cultural, spiritual, art related or educational. When it comes to the growth of the Kannada film industry there and his future plan for the same, he said that he is striving to bring Kannada cinema in the Gulf on par with other cinema. He plans to do so by arranging for movie premiers with film crews. “There is a lot of planning from our side but it will be possible only with strong film industry support”.
He concluded by expressing his gratitude to all Kannadigas, regional Kannada organizations, media and his friends who have supported him in this journey. Also thanked Kannada Film Producers, Distributors and Actors who supported him in screening kannada movies in GULF. Many community based and Kannada based associations have recognized his efforts and honored him for his contribution towards Kannada films.
News Karnataka wishes him all the success in his future endeavors.
About the Author
Kiran Nirkan: A Mechanical Engineer by profession, Kiran is currently working in Dubai as a facilities engineer. He is a special correspondent for News Karnataka Dubai.
The NRI Newsmaker is a section dedicated to recognizing those talented and hardworking individuals who have made a name for themselves in the field they have stepped into. Their efforts may have been gone unrecognized by the masses but they certainly deserve your acclaim. Because as Kannadigas, they have done commendable work and made their state beam with pride.
