The Kannada film industry is trying to slowly get back to normalcy. With Shivanna taking the lead by resuming shooting for Bhajarangi 2 on Monday, other filmmakers are following suit. Kabza director R Chandru is now gearing up to resume filming for his upcoming mega project, and Upendra, along with a few other artistes, including Kabir Duhan Singh and Kota Srinivas, will be joining the sets in the first week of September. While Sudeep’s Phantom has been on floors for almost a month now, other films like KGF Chapter 2 and Pogaru will resume shooting from mid-August.
The team of Kabza had come up with a huge jail set-up at Minerva Mills where the director had started shooting a major action block sequence. However, due to the pandemic, the shoot had to be put on hold. Chandru, who is currently preparing for the shoot, says, “We have at least 20 days of jail sequence to film, which needs to be completed in the schedule I am planning in September. We are making plans for how to go about the shooting and the precautionary measures that should be taken.”
This is the second collaboration of R Chandru and Upendra after I Love You. Backed by MTB Nagaraj under his Sri Siddeshwara Entertainments banner, Kabza is a period drama featuring Upendra in the role of an underworld don.
The director is planning to make it a pan-Indian film by releasing it in seven languages. The film is being shot in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, and will be dubbed and released in Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi and Bengali.
Kabza features a host of actors from other languages as well. The film has Naveen, Jaya Prakash, Kaat Raju and Subbaraju, along with Avinash and M Kamaraj as part of the cast. The makers are yet to finalise the heroine of Kabza. Ravi Basrur is composing the film’s music, while Arjun Shetty is handling cinematography.
Apart from Kabza, Upendra’s line-up of projects includes Buddhivanta 2, which is the final stages of post-production, and Home Minister with Ravi Chandra, lined up for release. The actor will also be seen in a pivotal role in an upcoming Telugu project starring Varun Tej, and the team plans to resume shooting for this in September.