Century Star Shivarajkumar is on a roll: As many as 10-12 films in the pipeline

In the last few years, barring, of course, the two lost to the pandemic, one of the most common refrains in Sandalwood has been that Century Star Shivarajkumar is not only the busiest actor at any given point of time, but also that his date sheet is chock-a-block for the next 3-4 years at least. Given the number of films that are announced on his birthday and, through the course of the year, it is no wonder that the Hattrick Hero is shuttling from one set to another with barely any break in between.

Last year, for instance, there were announcements for films with directors Yogaraj Bhat, MG Srinivas, Lohith H, Arjun Janya, Tejasvi Nag, Sachin B Ravi, Kotresh Chapparadahalli, Karthik Adwait, among others. From this lot, Shivanna as the actor is fondly called, has finished Srinivas’ Ghost, most of Yogaraj’s Karataka Damanaka, as well as cameos in Rajinikanth’s Jailer and Dhanush’s Captain Miller. Arjun’s 45 has just begun now, because the actor has also kicked off a project with director Narthan, called Bhairati Ranagal (Mufti’s prequel and sequel). There is no news on when Lohith’s Tejasvi’s or Sachin’s films will take off, but yesterday, on the occasion of the actor’s 61stbirthday, there were even more announcements.

The makers of Tagaru announced a sequel, while Laki Gopal’s debut directorial is set to bring Shivarajkumar’s 1989 character Inspector Vikram back in a film called IV. What is most interesting about the new signings is that Shivarajkumar is collaborating with the likes of Ganesh, Krishna Ajai Rao, among others. The list of filmmakers associating with the Century Star includes Ram Dhulipudi, who was to helm the actor’s 124thfilm, Nee Sigoovaregu, a film whose status is currently unknown, KS Ravikumar and Bahubali. And, if R Chandru actually makes Kabzaa 2, Shivanna will lead that one too. In essence, including 45 and Bhairati Ranagal, the actor has 10-12 projects lined up, but the question remains as to how many of these will actually get made and when.

Fans, who were following all the announcements yesterday, are thrilled at the combinations that have been promised and are all praise for Shivanna, stating that if these films go on floors in due course of time, it will provide employment to a large chunk of people in the industry. Some, however, wondered if these films will remain, what they are, announcements, considering that several of the projects in his line-up have been rolled over from previous years.