Bagheera, directed by Dr Suri and with Sriimurali in the title role, is based on a story by KGF-maker Prashant Neel
Bagheera is the latest production venture by Hombale Films and their first with Roaring Star Sriimurali. The film marks the return of Dr Suri to direction, after the 2012 Lucky, which had Yash in the lead. It is based on a story by Ugramm, KGF and Salaar maker Prashant Neel, which Dr Suri developed for the screen.
Bagheera has been in the making for three years and there had been no word on when it would possibly be in theatres. In fact, the focus was only on films like Bhairathi Ranagal, Max and UI. Once Bhairathi Ranagal was pushed ahead from its August 15 plan and settled in on November 15, the buzz was that Upendra’s UI would take up Deepavali, since Dhruva Sarja’s Martin had blocked Dasara. But before the team of UI could make a formal announcement, Hombale Films swooped in unannounced and declared that Bagheera would be in theatres on October 31, effectively pushing UI out of the picture.
Bagheera, which was initially announced with multiple versions, will release in Kannada and Telugu only on October 31, as the makers did not deem it fit to compete with big Hindi releases like Bhool Bhulaiyya 3 and Singham Again (in Hindi) and Amaran (in Tamil), among others.
Sriimurali on Bagheera’s action: ‘Fights are not like songs; you can never go in fully prepared’
In the trailer of Bagheera, and as explained by the team, Sriimurali plays an IPS officer called Vedanth, whose childhood dream it was to be a superhero and fight for the good of society. But in due course of time, he realizes that giving people the justice they deserve may not always be possible within the framework of the law, so he finds a way to step out of it. That’s when he decides to become a masked vigilante, who rids his city of the scum that the police are not able to do anything about.
The trailer has drawn comparison to Hollywood superhero films like Batman and Daredevil, among others, with Dr Suri categoric that he has intentionally treated the film like that. The filmmaker says that visually, Bagheera is like Batman, but as a character, he has similarities to Daredevil, what with the law-enforcer day job, etc.
Visually, Bagheera is like Batman, which was intentional, says director Dr Suri
Sriimurali is the title character Bagheera, while Rukmini Vasanth is his love interest, Dr Sneha. Ram, who played KGF: Chapter 1’s main villain Garuda, is the primary antagonist here too. Also on the cast are Prakash Raj, Rangayana Raghu, Achyuth Kumar and Sudharani, among others.
There is no official update about the budget of Bagheera, but sources say that the film clocked in at a tad under Rs 40 crore, somewhere in the range of Rs 34 cr to Rs 37 cr. The film was in production for 3 years, with some unavoidable delays, including Sriimurali’s ACL injury, during which time, the makers had to maintain the sets that had been put up for it.
Hombale Films’ Kannada productions have all been picked up by Amazon Prime Video, so the assumption WAS that Bagheera would also head to the streamer after its theatrical run, but Hombale Films has done the unthinkable and has been able to sell the streaming rights to Netflix.
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