Check out the late Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar as a soldier in the special Republic Day poster of James

A Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar film is always among the most-anticipated ones in Kannada cinema, and his James, with director Chetan Kumar, was high up on the list. The actor’s tragic and untimely passing in October last year, shortly after completing principal photography on the film, came as a big jolt for Kannada cinema lovers and the team of James. While fans wondered if they’d get to see their beloved star one more time in what will be his last commercial film, the team was quick to assure them that the actor had shot all relevant scenes and that only two songs were pending. This meant that they would be able to package it and present the film before audiences. In fact, Chetan has been saying that the film will be released on March 17, which is the late actor’s birthday. As an added bonus, only days ago, the team had shot certain sequences featuring Puneeth’s brothers, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Shivarajkumar, which will make James the first film to star all three of the late matinee idol Rajkumar’s sons onscreen.

With just over a month and a half to go for the film’s release, the team, we hear, has been working at breakneck speed on the post-production, but has also found time to give fans a glimpse into what is in store. On Republic Day today, team James released a special poster, which, features a digital image of a gun-trotting Puneeth dressed in army fatigues and a lot of war action in the backdrop. Whether this scene is representative of an actual scene from the film is yet to be ascertained, but if it is, that would make for some exciting viewing. It is known that the team had shot in snow-clad areas of Kashmir for the film, but is Puneeth playing a soldier? Let’s wait and watch.

James, directed by Chetan Kumar, produced by Kishore Pathikonda, pairs Puneeth with Priya Anand. This will be the pair’s second film together after Raajakumara. The film will have music by Charan Raj and has Anu Prabhakar, R Sarathkumar, Tilak, Mukesh Rishi, Aditya Menon, Rangayana Raghu, and Shine Shetty, among others on its cast.