Rakshit Shetty in talks with Boney Kapoor for 777 Charlie Bollywood distribution?

Back in September this year, the team of Rakshit Shetty’s next, 777 Charlie, had announced that they’d release the film on December 31, in keeping with the actor-producer lucky streak of year-end releases (Kirik Party and Avane Srimannarayana). Strangely, though, since then, the team has not initiated promotional activities that are normal in the run-up to a release, barring the Torture Song, of course. And now, with only a few weeks to go for its proposed release, industry insiders say that it is being pushed ahead into the new year.

According to the buzz in industry circles, Rakshit and co are in discussion with Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor for the distribution of 777 Charlie’s Hindi version. The nitty-gritties of this deal, we hear, is delaying the release process. “Once the deal comes through, there will be a mandatory promotional period of a month or two, so 777 Charlie will probably be a March 2022 release,” says a source on condition of anonymity.

In fact, after Rakshit announced December 31 as the release date, fans and industry insiders felt it was not a right move, considering that several other language biggies, like Pushpa The Rise, RRR, 83, were hitting theatres in and around that time. They felt that since 777 Charlie will be a pan-Indian film, releasing it on December 31 will mean that it will not get a sizeable share in the markets it is targeting. Also, the fact that four other Kannada films – Love You Rachchu, Ombatthane Dikku, Arjun Gowda and Huttuhabbada Subhashayagalu – have announced December 31 release plans, it is unlikely that 777 Charlie will stick to its original plan.

777 Charlie, directed by Kiranraj K, revolves around Dharma (Rakshit) the dog Charlie, and their journey together. The film also stars Danish Sait, Bobby Simha, Sangeetha Sringeri, Raj B Shetty, among others, in pivotal roles.