Did you know? Rakshit Shetty & Hemanth M. Rao were meant to work on a period detective mystery titled 'Tenali'

Set in the pre-independence era, Rakshit Shetty was to play the titular character of a detective who unravels a mystery in his seemingly gentlemanly manner.

Rakshit Shetty as Tenali

Filmmaker Hemanth M. Rao has spoken time & again about his love for noir and the many charms it carries. Be it the grittiness of the genre or the alluring mood it is soaked in, or the fact that it also allows you to travel back in time and explore a specific time in history, the possibilities that noir offers are plenty. And Hemanth Rao, who has already tried his hand at the genre with his second directorial Kavaludaari seems keen on dabbling in it once again.

But did you know he was putting together one such 'mystery movie' called Tenali with Rakshit Shetty headlining it? Yes, the duo, which had already delivered a success in the form of Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu (Hemanth Rao's debut), was all set to reunite for Tenali and had even completed a look test for the central character. Set in the pre-independence era, Rakshit Shetty was to play the titular character of a detective who unravels a mystery in his seemingly gentlemanly manner.

Clad in a dashing three-piece suit and a woollen golfer's cap, Rakshit Shetty's Tenali boasts a certain kind of boyish charm that one mostly associates with the likes of Dev Anand. Hemanth Rao and Rakshit shared a small glimpse of the character back in 2018, teasing the possibility of a new detective narrative.

"Ive always been a big fan of history and period pieces. I had this idea for a film set during the independence struggle. I discussed the idea and character with Rakshit who really loved it, so we decided to try a few looks for fun," wrote Hemanth M. Rao in his tweet which dates back to 2018. In the same vein, he would also include a disclaimer that he would get to Tenali only once he was done with Kavaludaari.

Well, one wonders what became of Tenali after all? We know that Hemanth did make Kavaludaari as promised but when he chose to reunite with Rakshit again, the face of the collaboration looked quite different to that of Tenali. The two are currently engrossed in the making of Sapta Sagaradaache Ello and with Rakshit Shetty slated to work on his own set of projects as a director following that, could it be that Tenali has been shelved?

"No, no..." says Rakshit when asked about the project and its whereabouts. Although the exact fate of Tenali is unclear, Rakshit does suggest in all sincerity that the film is still very much on the cards and that Hemanth Rao plans on rekindling the fire sometime in the future. "Sapta Sagaradaache Ello happened after Kavaludaari and we kept Tenali for a later stage," he shares adding that with his current long & arduous schedule in mind, the film will not take off anytime soon. "Not soon," to put it in his succinct manner.

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