Shivarajkumar to be seen in an extended cameo in Dhananjaya’s Uttarakaanda

Rohit Padaki’s next directorial, Uttarakaanda, a film about the gang wars of North Karnataka, is not even on floors yet, but there’s a lot of interest in the star cast that the filmmaker will put together. Just ahead of the film’s official muhurtha on November 6, rumours were flying thick that Ramya and Shivarajkumar would be in the film led by Daali Dhananjaya. It seemed a plausible casting, considering that Ramya had partnered up with the makers, Karthik Gowda and Yogi G Raj of KRG Studios for her home production, Apple Box Studios. As for Shivarajkumar, well, he’d already worked with Dhananjaya on the hit venture Tagaru and, subsequently Bairagee too, so that also seemed a done deal.

On the day of the muhurtha, though, the only confirmation that came was the casting of Ramya. The team released a special promo video featuring her voice-over in North Karnataka dialect to welcome her onboard Uttarakaanda. The film, we hear, will most likely go on floors only in January next year, after Dhananjaya completes his current commitment, Hoysala, which, incidentally, is also a KRG Studios production. Hoysala was meant to be a November 2022 release, but its production was delayed when Dhananjaya got busy with his own home production, Head Bush, the biopic of Bengaluru’s first don, MP Jayaraj. At the moment, Hoysala has been announced as a March 30, 2023 release, so the team’s busy wrapping it up.

There’s been no official word from the team about Shivarajkumar’s inclusion, but his was one of the names that was speculated when the film was announced earlier this year. Industry insiders, who have been tracking developments surrounding Uttarakaanda say that the Century Star will play an extended cameo in the film.

Shivarajkumar, incidentally, is one of the busiest actors in Kannada cinema at the moment. He’s just finished the first schedule of director-actor MG Srinivas’ Ghost, and has several other projects lined up. His next release will be Vedha, his fourth film with director A Harsha. He is also expected to do pivotal roles in two Tamil films, featuring Rajinikanth and Dhanush, respectively.