Kannada director Vinod V Dhondalay dies by suicide after rising budget of unfinished film, Rs 3 crore loan

Allegedly upset over the rising budget of his debut film and the personal loan of Rs 3 crore he had availed for it, prominent Kannada TV Series Director Vinod V Dhondalay died by suicide on July 20.

His partner and producer of the film, Vardhan Hari of Vriddhi Creation, said they ran into a financial bottleneck, as the film exceeded the originally planned number of shooting days by almost double. “'Ashoka Blade' is a social drama set in the 1970s. It is written by T K Dayanand and it stars Sathish Ninasam. It was Dhondalay’s dream project and we started the shooting in May 2023. Originally, we planned for 45 days, but we shot for 87 days."

"Our original budget was around Rs 1.5 crore, but we went over it by many times. Now, we needed to reshoot a few scenes as well as a song and a fight sequence. All this required more money", Hari said. Ninasam, who also partly produces the film under the banner Sathish Picture House, said he did not expect such a turn of events.

"The film is 90 per cent complete. We recently had a discussion and we decided to shoot the remaining bits next month. It would have taken us another 20 to 25 days. It is such a pity. Dhondalay was a gem of a man", Ninasam said. According to Hari, who said he had dropped him home on July 19 night after a meeting with another producer who was willing to pitch in, when he left Dhondalay looked relieved.

“He was worried because we had already spent a lot of money and the film looked very promising. Lack of money to take the movie further was weighing on him a lot. But we had found a solution and there was someone who was willing to help us finish the remaining shooting. I did not expect to hear the news of his death the very next morning,” said Hari, who has worked with Dhondalay for more than 22 years, producing many TV serials.

Dhondalay is known for his TV serials ‘Karimani’ and ‘Shantam Papam’. Chandra Layout police station Inspector M M Bharath said Dhondalay’s wife Geetha informed them of the death, and a case of unnatural death has been registered. Further investigations are being conducted.

“According to the FIR (based on the statement by Dhondalay's wife), he had been depressed for some time as he had taken an OD (overdraft) loan of almost Rs 3 crore from Karnataka Bank for the production of ‘Ashoka Blade’,” the inspector said.

He also said Dhondalay had left behind a two-page suicide note, where he had asked for the forgiveness of his wife and children. Dhondalay is survived by his wife Geetha, two sons and a daughter. His eldest son just completed his Class X exams and scored 99 per cent marks, and his youngest daughter is only eight years old, his friend and producer Hari said.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)