PremiumGhost 2023: Release date, trailer, plot, cast, budget, OTT partner and more
Last Updated: 08.51 PM, Oct 17, 2023
The sole Kannada festive release this week is Ghost, directed by MG Srinivas with Shivarajkumar in the lead. The film has been described as an action heist thriller, with no extra frills – introduction song, special number, love interest, etc. Here’s all you need to know about Ghost, which will take on several big-ticket movies for a share of the Dasara box office.
Release date
Ghost was announced as a Dasara release on July 12 for Shivarajkumar’s birthday, along with the Big Daddy teaser. Although an exact date was not mentioned, it was understood that it would be on October 19 or 20. At the time, from Kannada, Rakshit Shetty had booked October 20 for the second instalment of his two-part film Sapta Sagaradaache Ello, but as the days went by, Srinivas confirmed October 19 for Ghost, while Rakshit first moved SSE Side B to October 27 and is now set to postpone it even further. With no other Kannada film in the ring, Ghost is in competition with other language biggies like Vijay’s Leo, Ravi Teja’s Tiger Nageswara Rao and Nandamuri Balakrishna’s Bhagavanth Kesari, among others.
Release plans
Ghost is being distributed by Jayanna Films throughout Karnataka. When OTTplay spoke to Jayanna, he had said that he was targeting about 350 odd screens for Ghost , of which, a majority would be single-screens, outside of the core Bengaluru belt. In Bengaluru, it was Leo that won the sweep-stakes, as far as screen allocation goes. Srinivas had told OTTplay that the team was aware that getting good screens in Bengaluru would be a task, but he reasoned that for the other-language films, the city is the only major market and that outside of it, Ghost would have the clear advantage. Also, given that every Dasara film’s fate will be determined in the first four days, the filmmaker says that he and his team are not only confident of retaining their screens, but also eating into the share of the other movies.
Ghost, meanwhile, is releasing in Kannada, Hindi and Tamil on October 19, with the Telugu version coming a week later on October 27. While the film is releasing in Kerala too, it is said that the distributor will present the Tamil version in the state. Meanwhile, the Hindi version is being presented by Pen Studios, which is expected to give the film a decent outing.
Plot of Ghost
Throughout the promotions of Ghost, Srinivas has maintained that the film is a heist thriller, with most the narrative unfolding in a prison. Shivarjakumar, he said, would be seen in three avatars, one of which is a digitally de-aged version. Ghost follows a story that occurs in a 48-hour time frame, he added. Later, when OTTplay spoke to actor Jayaram, he said that the main crux of the film revolves around his character Changappa and that of Shivarajkumar.
Then, an eagle-eyed fan spotted a synopsis online, which seemed just perfect. According to this, the Shivarajkumar who lays siege on a prison is Danny, who is after a stash of gold hidden away there. He also holds an ex-CBI officer hostage there. Hostage negotiator Changappa (Jayaram) then steps in to try and solve this impasse. What is Danny really after? Who is Ghost? All of this and much more will be revealed in the film, which has been censored U/A and has a run-time of about 2 hours and 7 minutes only, without title credits.
Trailer and other promotional material
Pretty much all the promotional material that team Ghost released, including a motion poster of a de-aged Shivarajkumar, the Big Daddy teaser, the OGM track and then, the trailer. The Big Daddy teaser, which came out on Shivarajkumar’s birthday, was a runaway hit, what with the actor in gangster mode and using whiskey for his pani puri. The OGM track also worked well, what with Arjun Janya doing a multi-lingual single track, instead of releasing multiple versions of the same song. The trailer that came out thereafter, repeated a few sequences from Big Daddy, which, Srinivas says was intentional, as there were audiences who thought that it was a specially shot teaser and would not be a part of the film. It also gave audiences a clear look at the output of the digital de-aging of Shivarajkumar, which was quite impressive.Trailer and other promotional material
Pretty much all the promotional material that team Ghost released, including a motion poster of a de-aged Shivarajkumar, the Big Daddy teaser, the OGM track and then, the trailer. The Big Daddy teaser, which came out on Shivarajkumar’s birthday, was a runaway hit, what with the actor in gangster mode and using whiskey for his pani puri. The OGM track also worked well, what with Arjun Janya doing a multi-lingual single track, instead of releasing multiple versions of the same song. The trailer that came out thereafter, repeated a few sequences from Big Daddy, which, Srinivas says was intentional, as there were audiences who thought that it was a specially shot teaser and would not be a part of the film. It also gave audiences a clear look at the output of the digital de-aging of Shivarajkumar, which was quite impressive.
Cast and crew of Ghost
Ghost has Shivarajkumar in the lead, along with Jayaram, Anupam Kher, Prashant Narayan, Dattana and Archana Jois, among others. The film has music by Arjun Janya, while Mahesh Simha has handled cinematography. Dialogues have been written by Prasanna VM and Maasthi.
Budget of the film
According to unverified reports, Ghost, produced by Sandesh Nagaraj for Sandesh Productions, has been made at a budget of Rs 10-15 crore.
OTT partner
Ghost has been picked up by Zee Network for the satellite and digital rights. The TV rights are with Zee Kannada and Zee Pichhar, while the streaming partner is Zee5 Kannada. It was earlier reported that the team was in talks with Amazon Prime Video, but considering that Zee Network co-produced Shivarajkumar’s earlier Vedha, and that the actor judges a dance reality show for Zee Kannada, it is not surprising that the rights went to them.