Bangalore: Celebrated director Girish Kasaravalli, who recently won his fifth National Award for ‘Hasina,’ will start a new film in September. The film is based on SL Byrappa’s popular Kannada novel ‘Naayi Neralu,’ which deals with the theme of reincarnation. Kasaravalli is yet to decide the title of his new film though on earlier occasions he has retained the title of the novel or the short story. Basanth Kumar Patil, former president of the Kannada Film Producers’ Association, will produce the film. Kasaravalli has always made films of social relevance. ‘Hasina’ dealt with the issue of Muslim marriages and the travails of a Muslim woman after a forced separation from her husband. It won the best film award in the social welfare category of the national awards. His previous four awards were the Golden Lotus awards for the best film. Kasaravalli won his first National Award for his debut film

‘Ghatashraddha,’ based on a novel by Jnanpith Award-winning author UR Anantha Murthy. His next award was for ‘Tabarana Kathe,’ based on a short story of Dr Purnachandra Tejaswi.

‘Thaayi Saheba,’ produced by Jayamala, and ‘Dweepa,’ produced by late Soundarya followed, based on novels by Ram Sha and Na D’Souza respectively, fetched him the other two national awards. — HNS