Here’s why hitmaker director Sooraj Shetty is so secretive about his next

History repeats itself and it holds good in the film industry, too. When a film becomes a hit, the team behind it more often than not, splits up and ends up going separate ways. A common phenomenon in Sandalwood, it unfortunately has seeped into the

Tulu

industry, too. And sources told MT that the above reason is also why director Sooraj K Shetty — the man behind acclaimed films like Ekka Sakha and

Pilibail Yamunakka

— is so secretive about his next project.

It all started with the immense success of Pilibail Yamunakka, which was preceded by Ekka Sakha. Director Sooraj, who helmed both films, was in fact looking forward to making more films with the same team. But a misunderstanding led to the split of both teams and we hear that Sooraj got to know that his close friends, led by confidante Mayur Shetty, had moved on only on seeing the announcement of their next film My Name is Annappa in a vernacular newspaper. “Sooraj had, by then, announced two films, English which was a crowd-funded flick and another much-ambitious project, both of which he was preparing for assuming he had his team with him. On seeing the paper ad, he realised, he’d have to start afresh,” says our sources. Moreover, in case of the film English, Sooraj was being bombarded with calls from people who were ready to fund the film, but also demanded that he cast their family members in it. “Annoyed with the developments, Sooraj is now gearing up for his new film and is so secretive about the project that even the publicity team of the scheduled film have no inkling about its title or cast,” shares our source.

As for the split, the industry even though is aware of the situation, has decided to stay mum on the issue and nobody speaks about it. “When asked, both teams deny there’s bad blood and convey that all is well between them,” adds the source. We hope the two factions sort the differences soon. The Tulu industry which is finally coming into its own needs talent such as Sooraj and Mayur to take it to newer heights.