Director R Chandru’s Kabzaa will be among the handful of films, which is gearing to make a pan-India appeal. The multilingual film stars Upendra, Sudeep, and Shriya Saran as the leads. And now, the makers have also brought on board Murli Sharma. The 200-film-old south Indian actor, a popular personality in the Telugu industry, has worked in Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam and will mark his Kannada debut with Kabzaa.

Murli will be playing a character named Veera Bahaddhur, who hails from the royal Bahaddur family, says Chandru. “Murli is a popular face among the Telugu audience, and his role in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo won him a lot of fanfare. We decided to approach him to play a pivotal role in this film which he has accepted,” adds the director.

Murli, the latest actor to join the ensemble cast, has completed the shoot. He says, “I was a little nervous in the beginning as I don’t speak Kannada. However, this was a beautiful experience and all the credit goes to director Chandru. It’s a beautiful and performance-oriented role. There are a few beautiful scenes featuring me, which I think have come out very well. My director is happy so I am.”

The team recently wrapped up a big schedule for Kabzaa completing 85 per cent of the film’s shooting. “We are now left with another big schedule of 20 days. There will be some more actors joining the team in the last phase of shooting,” says Chandru.

Meanwhile, the makers are planning to release the film sometime during Dasara.