Techies promote Sandalwood abroad

In last two years, techies from different parts of the world have helped the Sandalwood industry to grow and spread in other countries as well. Deepak Somashekar, Prakash Satyanarayan, Prakash Shivappa, Chaitanya Kulkarni, Raghu and Gopi are the names which might not be known to us, but their dedication and love towards Sandalwood is applaudable.

They have helped release Kannada films in countries like UAE, Australia, UK and Japan. The team’s only non-techie is Darshan Soma. The team started their firm, Overseas Kannada Movies, two years ago to promote Kannada movies. Darshan said, "My brother (Deepak Somashekar) is working in Dubai for the last 12 years. With his help, contact was established with a Kannada organisation there and Sudeep's Bachchan was released. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube took this news to other Kannadigas in other parts of the world. One by one, others made contact and now we release Kannada films in 7-8 countries."

Others in the team include Prakash Satyanarayan from Singapore, Prakash Shivayya from London, Chaitanya from Tokyo and Raghu and Gopi from the US. Talking about their love for the industry, Darshan said, "For all of us, it is a hobby and our love for Kannada films”. Comparing Sandalwood with the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films, he added, “We are just in the infant stage compared to them. But someone has to take the initiative. Producers will definitely see some additional revenue, but it is still a long way to go compared to those languages”.