Darshan’s next, Kranti, gearing up for a November-December release?

Challenging Star Darshan’s 55th film, Kranti, which reunites him with the team of his earlier Yajamana, including producers Shylaja Nag and B Suresha and director-composer V Harikrishna, was launched last year during Vijayadashami. According to reports, the film is nearly complete and plans are afoot to ensure that it becomes a 2022 release.

It was earlier reported that team Kranti was eyeing a Dasara outing, but two films, Dhruva Sarja’s Martin and Rishab Shetty’s Kantara have already taken up that festive slot. As of now, Dhananjaya is the only contender for Deepavali, as he brings his Jayaraj biopic, Head Bush (part 1) to theatres. The next likely date is a Karnataka Rajyotsava release, but the buzz in industry circles right now is that November 1 is being blocked for the late Puneet Rajkumar’s last onscreen outing, the wildlife docu-feature Gandhada Gudi. Earlier, Dhananjaya’s milestone 25th film Hoysala was meant to be a Rajyotsava release, but that has been pushed ahead.

If Gandhada Gudi does officially announce November 1 as its release date, team Kranti will not compete with it at the box office, out of respect for the late Power Star. In this scenario, December looks like the most likely release window for Kranti. Could it be a Christmas or year-end theatrical release? The film had been announced as a five-language pan-India release, but according to inside information, the subject of Kranti is hyper-local and focuses on the hero’s fight to safeguard a government Kannada medium school. Netizens have been saying that the story does not warrant a pan-India release, so it remains to be seen what the team will do.

Meanwhile, Darshan’s been pretty silent on social media since his June 9 tweet, in which he thanked his fans, who he calls celebrities, for their support and standing by him through thick and thin. His tweet came following rumours that there’s an unofficial media ban on him, after an audio clip of the actor abusing the media surfaced.