The two prominent Pongal releases are Golden star Ganesh starring Rs.5.5 crore 'Circus' and Srimurali starring Rs.3 crores 'Shivamani'. Dayal Padmanabhan is turning producer from this film besides directing the film and it is his debut production. Similar is the case of SJP Creations headed by Shantha Jagannath Pai of 'Shivamani'.

'Circus' is a romantic thriller while 'Shivamani' is action thriller with love and sentiments measured very well. It is newcomer Archana Gupta in 'Circus' verses the beautiful Sharmila Mandre in 'Shivamani'. The music of 'Shivamani' is another high point. Veera Samarth's first release Kannada film has lilting tunes.

'Circus' is releasing on this Thursday in 75 centers while 'Shivamani' is releasing on 45 centers on Friday. 'Shivamani' producer Ajai Pai has been careful in the marketing strategy right from the beginning. Picking 40 persons from the chain group of Hotels of Pai the publicity and awareness campaign has been undertaken for 'Shivamani'. The 25 mobile autos traveled at various places with hoardings of 'Shivamani'. Producer Ajai Pai is of the opinion that the film starting 10 minutes no one can miss and like that the last 15 minutes. All these publicity work is keeping actor Srimurali in tension. Director of 'Shivamani' the first timer Amaranath is a confident guy again. He has immensely liked the interest shown by the producer.

In SJP creations 'Shivamani' Avinash, Shobaraj, Ramesh Bhat, Vinayaprakash, Sihikahi Chandru, Besant Ravi are in the supporting cast.

Dayal is brimming with happiness for his Dayal Pictures maiden production. He has launched his own banner to release the album and expecting very good returns in the box office for 'Circus'. He is releasing on his own entire Karnataka.

There are many specialties too in 'Circus'. The 60 percent of the film is shot in train and there are chilling action scenes. Seven cinematographers have worked for some portions. Sadhu Kokila, Dharma, Gurudut, Muni are in the supporting cast. Emil has scored some popular tunes for 'Circus'.