Nagabhushana's comedy family drama Made in China locks its release date

Actor Nagabhushana’s Made in China, in which he plays the lead along with Priyanka Thimmesh, is special on account of it being a ‘virtually made’ film. In the sense that the narrative progresses through the digital communications of the protagonists. If you’ve seen the Malayalam film C U Soon, with Fahadh Faasil, Roshan Thomas and Darshana Rajendran, in the lead, was mostly based on the screen captures of the cast’s video calls to each other. Nagabhushana’s Made in China, follows a similar format. Here, his character is a professional who is stranded in China after the Covid-19 pandemic breaks out. This, however, could not have come at a more inopportune moment. His wife, played by Priyanka, is heavily pregnant and the couple then try to work out their long-distance relationship, while also taking stock of their situation and the uncertainty surrounding when he’d be able to return and join his family.

The comedy family drama, directed by cinematographer Preetham Theggimane, was apparently initially intended as a short film, but the filmmaker saw merit in stretching it into a feature film. He reckons that the film’s strong point is the family drama, which unfolds between the couple and Nagabhushana’s character’s parents, played by Ravi Bhatt and Aruna Balraj.

Produced by TR Chandrashekhar and Nanda Kishore for Crystal Paark Cinemas, Made in China was shot entirely in Bengaluru. Nagabhushana’s first collaboration with Priyanka, the film was earlier announced as a March 11 release, but was then pushed ahead. No reason was cited at the time, but it is believed that the fact that the late Puneeth Rajkumar’s last commercial film, James, was releasing only one week later could be one.

Since then, there’s been no word on the revised release date, until earlier today, when Nagabhushana took to social media to announce when Made in China would hit theatres. The film, according to the latest, has now been fixed for a June 17 theatrical outing.