in 1991, he co-produced, directed and acted in the film "ajagajantara". the film costarred anjana and srilekha and had music composed by hamsalekha with the lyrics written by two of his proteges, upendra and v. manohar. the comedy-drama film met with commercial success and the same screenplay was adapted in the 1997 released hindi film "judaai", starring anil kapoor, sridevi and urmila matondkar.