The year 2018 seems promising already for Kannada cinema, with another blockbuster in the making. The power trio who gave us Raajakumara will be back on the silver screen.

After the success of that film, moviegoers were curious about Santhosh Ananddramm's third project. There has been many speculations about the next film of the director who debuted with Mr and Mrs Ramachari. As the year begins, he shares with CE that his next film will star Puneeth Rajkumar and be produced by Vijay Kiragandur under Hombale Films. The filmmaker says that he decided on this team after writing the script.

“We are happy to come together for yet another interesting project, which will go on floors in July,” says Santhosh, sharing with us a photo of the three in a discussion.

The director explains why he's decided to work with Puneeth again. “Vijay Kirangandur and Puneeth Rajkumar wanted to work on a film with a message, and that is how we worked on Raajakumara. That received an overwhelming response from the audience. My present story needs Puneeth Rajkumar yet again, an actor people who are fond of, and whose fans are waiting to see him in these kind of films.”

Santhosh, who gave the Kannada industry a trading business of more than Rs 100 crore with Mr and Mrs Ramachandri and Raajakumara, hopes to better his score with his third project.

The director is equally excited to work with Vijay Kiragandur, who he calls ‘a technician’s producer’.

“He is a producer who understands the needs of quality cinema, and works around it,” says Santhosh. “He values work of directors, technicians and artistes, and is closely involved with his projects. He gives us the confidence to work better. It is a pleasure to collaborate with such production houses. In fact, my next two projects after this will also be made under their banner.”

With an official announcement made by the production house, Santhosh Ananddram will share details of technicians on this project in the coming days, before the team goes on the sets.