"The biggest announcement of them all on Jan 21 #PhantomUpdateJan21." This tweet by actor Sudeep, director Anup Bhandari and from the production house has triggered a lot of curiosity about the film's proceedings. Whether this be an update on the trailer release at Burj Khalifa to mark 25 years of Sudeep in Kannada cinema or something else, is yet to be known. It is also speculated that Phantom might be in for a title change.

This rumour was fuelled at the ongoing International Film Festival of India where Sudeep was the Chief Guest during the inauguration. In an interaction there, Sudeep referred to the film as Vikranth Rona, which is also the name of his cop character in the film. This suggests that the project could be titled Vikranth Rona and Phantom might be the tagline. 

This is not the first time a title change for the project is being rumoured. However, when such reports surfaced earlier, the makers denied it. Now, with Sudeep himself addressing his next film as Vikranth Rona, this could be the big announcement coming our way on January 21. 

The big-budget project, made under Shalini Arts, is produced by Manjunath Gowda with  Alankar Pandian on board as co-producer. The adventure action-drama was one of the first Indian films to resume shooting post lockdown in June. The team is now left with just two songs to film.

Phantom, which brings together the actor and director for the first time, consists of an ensemble cast that includes Nirup Bhandari and Neetha Ashok, with Jacqueline Fernandez featured in a special song. The film marks the first time that music director Ajaneesh B Loknath and cinematographer William David are coming together for a Sudeep-starrer.