Dhruva Sarja’s Martin targeting a December release instead of Dasara?

In April this year, Kannada cinema’s Action Prince, Dhruva Sarja locked the release date of his fifth film, Martin. September 30 was the chosen date for the AP Arjun directorial, which is being produced by Uday K Mehta. The team has been working towards meeting this date with audiences, and has even begun post-production, including dubbing.

Turns out that Martin is far from complete. Arjun needs at least a 15-day schedule with his principal cast to wind up the shoot, including the climax sequence, after which only two songs will be pending. The last schedule will include two massive action blocks that will be choreographed by Ravi Varma and Ram Laxman respectively. Arjun, we hear, is looking at resuming the shoot of Martin for this schedule by the end of July or early August. Heroine Vaibhavi Shandilya and villain Nikitin Dheer are expected to be a part of this schedule.

It is no wonder then that there have been rumours in Sandalwood that Martin will not be a Dasara release after all. Arjun’s social media posts are still steadfast about a September 30 world-wide release, but given that the shoot is not complete, it is unlikely to be ready in time. Sources suggest that Martin will still be a 2022 release, but will be in theatres in December. As of now, Shiva Rajkumar’s Vedha and Ganesh’s Baana Daariyalli have announced December 24 release dates, so it remains to be seen if Arjun and Uday will push Dhruva’s film also for a Christmas outing.

If the film is indeed vacating the September 30 slot, Rishab Shetty’s Kantara and Jaggesh’s Thotapuri Part 1 will be in competition at the box office. September 30, though, is also when filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s period action drama Ponniyin Selvan, which boasts a stellar ensemble cast, including Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Sobhita Dhulipala, among others, hits screens.