BANGALORE: After a beak of 12 years, Mysore Srinivas Sathyu (M S Sathyu) returns to cinema with his Kannada film on the Devadasi theme ‘Ijjodu’, which has has released today.

Reliance Big Pictures (RBP) the producer and distributor of the film, has planned a small release in just five to six theaters in Bangalore initially. RBP expects the film’s popularity to spread by word-of-mouth. Depending upon the fate of the film in Bangalore, the film will be released in other cities in Karnataka.

Ijjodu has been screened at four domestic film festivals and has already received immense critical acclaim.

Reliance BIG Pictures CEO Sanjeev Lamba said, “Ijjodu not only marks the return of a director par excellence but also explores a social practice which has officially been banned from our society. Reliance Big Pictures is proud to be associated with such meaningful cinema.”

The film, scripted by Sathyu himself, has noted South Indian actress Meera Jasmine playing the female lead “Chenni”. Meera was the recipient of the National Award in 2004. The film also stars popular Kannada actor Aniruddha Jatkar as the male protagonist. The film’s music has been composed by Manikanth Kadri and cinematography is by GS Bhaskar.

The sound rights for the film have been purchased by Sony BMG.