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Manku Bhai Foxy Rani: Bigg Boss Kannada 9 winner Roopesh Shetty gets his first film release of 2023
Directed by Gagan M, the film is about a small-time Yakshagana artiste from a village in Mangaluru, whose attempts to find a girl to marry prove easier said than done. The 2019 film has Bigg Boss Kannada Season 9 winner Roopesh Shetty in the lead, along with Geetha Bharati Bhat and Panchami Rao, among others. The film will be in theatres this Sankranti on January 13.
Manku Bhai Foxy Rani gets a Sankranti release
Manku Bhai Foxy Rani is Bigg Boss Kannada 9 winner Roopesh Shetty's first release since his win. The 2019 film has been directed by Gagan M and pairs Roopesh with Geetha Bharati Bhat. Panchami Rao also plays a pivotal role in the film.
Credit: OTTplay Editorial
1/9
Manku Bhai Foxy Rani is a simple love story: Roopesh Shetty
"Manku Bhai Foxy Rani is a simple love story with a good subject at its core. It came to me at a time when doing a Kannada film was a big deal for me and I wasn't doing too many movies. I play Rajesh, a small-time Yakshagana artiste, who is normally a lion in those plays. The first thing that Gagan told me that this would not be a stereotypical hero role and that I had to gain weight. He also told me that I'd have to take off my beard, which was quite heartbreaking for me," says Roopesh.
2/9
Thought Manku Bhai... had already released: Roopesh Shetty
"We had shot for the film in 2019, and during the pandemic, I had told Gagan to sell it to an OTT platform, as there was uncertainty about whether a theatrical release would be possible and if people would even come to theatres. At least they'd watch it at home, I thought. But now, I think he made a smart choice, having waited for me to finish my stint on Bigg Boss Kannada," says Roopesh.
3/9
Panchami Rao makes her debut as leading lady
Panchami Rao, the daughter of Tulu actor Madhukar Rao, makes her big screen debut with Manku Bhai Foxy Rani. In her first film, she also gets to play one of the female leads.
4/9
Manku Bhai... is content-oriented cinema: Panchami
"The dream was to do a good role in a content-oriented film and I got that with Manku Bhai Foxy Rani. When director Gagan approached me for the film, I found the role and the story rather unique and that's how I decided to start my journey in Kannada cinema with this film," says Panchami.
5/9
Manku Bhai will get a limited release: Gagan
Since the film is set in a village in Mangaluru, the team is concentrating on giving it a good release in that area. In Bengaluru, the film will only be in multiplexes.
6/9
Excited about my first film as a lead: Geetha Bharathi Bhat
Brahmagantu fame Geetha Bharathi Bhat is not new to cinema, having done a variety of supporting characters, but Manku Bhai Foxy Rani is her first as a lead protagonist. Geetha, who's been on the heavier side and has lost oodles of weight since the film, says that she was normally approached only for comic roles, but this one was different. "The makers wanted to explore that there could be a pair like this also, with me and Roopesh," she said.
7/9
Manku Bhai is breaking monotony: Geetha Bharathi Bhat
Elaborating, Geetha adds, "This is not the kind of pairing that would be imagined normally." Also, although Geetha has Mangaluru roots, on account of having lived all her life in Bengaluru, she does not speak the dialect of the region. "But by the time I finished shooting, my Kannada had changed completely," she says.
8/9
I am a different person now: Geetha Bharathi Bhat
Geetha had shot for the film before her physical transformation. "If you see me in the posters of the film, I look a certain way, now am a lot different and in the future, I am hopeful of presenting another version of me," she says. The actress is believed to have knocked off over 30 kilos so far.
9/9
I play Roopesh's friend: Arjun Kaje
"When I first heard of the announcement of Manku Bhai Foxy Rani as Roopesh's next film, the poster had a very stylish image of him. But then when I saw him on set, he'd transformed himself completely. He'd gained weight, changed his gait, body language, hair style, and, most importantly, taken off his beard. That was very interesting. I play Balu, Roopesh's character Rajesh's close fiend," says Arjun.