Puneeth Rajkumar starrer James is progressing at a break-neck speed ever since the lockdown was lifted. According to an update about this film, the team will begin shooting in some exotic locations in Kashmir from February 18th.
Director Chethan Kumar, lead star Puneeth Rajkumar and the rest of the cast and crew are currently in the valley where the shooting schedule has been planned. Reports are that Chethan has planned to shoot an action and song sequence there which will be choreographed by A Harsha and stunt master Vijay respectively.
Besides Puneeth in the lead role, James will have the Bollywood star Mukesh Rishi in a pivotal role. Charan Raj has been roped in to compose the tunes for this entertainer. Bankrolled by Kishore Pathikonda, James will be a complete mass entertainer, say sources.
While James is in progress, Puneeth Rajkumar is done with Yuva Rathnaa. The film is directed by Santosh Ananddram and is bankrolled under the banner Hombale Films. Sayyeshaa is playing the female lead in it and this is her first film in the Kannada film industry. S Thaman is composing music for Yuva Rathnaa with Jnaanesh B Matad in charge of the editing and Anguraj cranking the camera.
The star cast also includes Prakash Raj in an important role and sources say that he may appear either as a college Principal or professor. Dhananjay will be seen as the main villain in Yuva Rathnaa with Radikaa Sarathkumar, Sonu Gowda and Diganth roped in for pivotal roles. The title Yuva Rathnaa comes with the tagline ‘Power of Youth’ indicating that it would have a political touch. The film is currently in post-production mode and will hit the marquee on April 21. It will be out in Kannada and Telugu languages, we hear.
Puneeth’s last outing as a hero was Natasaarvabhowma released in 2019. Pavan Wadeyar directed Natasaarvabhowma and it was bankrolled by Rockline Venkatesh under his banner Rockline Productions. D Imman set the tunes for the music for this flick while the camera was handled by Vaidhi. The film had two female leads – Rachita Ram and Anupama Parameswaran sharing the screen space with Puneeth. Incidentally, Natasaarvabhowma marked the latter’s debut in the Kannada film industry. The others in the supporting roles included Ravi Shankar, veteran actor Saroja Devi, and Chikanna.
A few months ago, reports emerged that Puneeth Rajkumar may be roped in to star in the 3 Idiots remake in Kannada but this has not been confirmed yet. Reports have emerged that Puneeth Rajkumar may be reprising the role done by Aamir Khan in the original. The other names in the fray for the star cast are Ganesh, Rajesh Krishna, Diganth, Srinagar Kitty, and Yogesh. An official word on this yet to come. 3 Idiots was remade in Tamil as Nanban starring Vijay in the lead with Jiiva and Srikanth playing the other two heroes. Shankar had directed the Tamil remake.