Agnyathavasi director Janardhan Chikkanna: When Rangayana Raghu slows down, he becomes…

Agnyathavasi, which releases on April 11, 2025 in theatres, has Rangayana Raghu in the lead, as a police officer trying to get to the bottom of a murder mystery

Rangayana Raghu in Agnyathavasi

It is very rare that Kannada filmmakers deign to explore Rangayana Raghu the actor and give him the platform to show that he’s capable of more than just being the eccentric supporting character, or the routine father, among others. In recent times, filmmaker Sandeep Sunkhad had done it in Shakhahaari, a film that got Raghu a lot of praise, and now, Gultoo maker Janardhan Chikkanna is ready to show audiences what he’s done with the actor in Agnyathavasi, which releases in theatres on April 11, 2025.

The film, set in Malnad of the late 90s, explores the investigation in a murder mystery in a quaint village, where crimes of most nature, had been unheard of. The local police station’s officers, who’d never had to deal with such investigations, are woefully unprepared for the task at hand, but soldier on – a journey that uncovers secrets that had remained buried for decades. Rangayana Raghu plays the station chief, a casting choice that Janardhan made to see what the actor brings to the character when not cocooned in the stereotypical roles he’s normally given.

Also read: 5 Malayalam murder mysteries with a chilling twist to watch on OTT

Janardhan Chikkanna on why he wanted Rangayana Raghu in Agnyathavasi

Janardhan had tried this approach briefly in his debut film Gultoo, in which Raghu had a pivotal role . The idea, the filmmaker says, is to get an actor like Raghu to ‘slow down’ because that is what would make his performance more beautiful. When Rangayana Raghu slows down and adopts subtility as the major element in his performance, Janardhan says that he becomes a different actor altogether. This is also why he was obsessed with having no one but Raghu in the role of the police officer in Agnyathavasi.

The film, produced by filmmaker Hemanth M Rao, has cinematography by Advaitha Gurumurthy and music by Charan Raj. Joining Rangayana Raghu on the cast are Siddu Moolimani, Pavana Gowda, Ravishankar Gowda, Arvind Kuplikar, and Sharath Lohithashwa, among others.

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