From murder mysteries, to comedy and commercial drama, here's the pick of four Kannada films set for July 15 release

The number of Kannada films releasing ahead of Kiccha Sudeep’s Vikrant Rona is steadily on the rise. A day after filmmaker KM Chaitanya bowed out of the July 1 race with his film Abbabba, at least two other teams announced July 15 for their date with audiences, taking the official toll for the day to four and making it a total of 11 before Vikrant Rona.

While the July 1 box-office clash is now between Shiva Rajkumar’s Bairagee and Nirup Bhandari’s Window Seat, July 8 has five films, namely Hope, Tootu Madike, Namma Hudugaru, Sugarless and Wedding Gift. As for July 15, well, Aniissh Tejeshwar was the first to ‘book’ the date for his next production, Benki, a commercial entertainer that revolves around a brother-sister relationship.

Shortly after, director Vijayaprasad announced that his film Petromax, with Sathish Ninasam, Hariprriya, Nagabhushana, Hema Dutt and Karunya Ram, among others, in contention for July 15. Last evening, director Vilok Shetty took to social media about the release of his mystery thriller Chase -In The Dark, which has Avinash Sringeri Divakar, Radhika Narayan, Sheetal Shetty, Arjun Yogesh Raj, in pivotal roles. Chase will also be a July 15 release, as will Karmanya Vadhikaraste. The Sri Hari Anand directorial, features debutant Prateek Subramani, Tsering Dolma and Divya Gowda.

As of now, no Kannada film has officially staked claim on July 22, probably because Vikrant Rona is locked for Thursday, July 28, which will give any film coming on the previous Friday, only five days free reign at the box office.

Chaitanya, whose Abbabba was supposed to be a July 1 release, has pushed it ahead and not announced an alternate date yet. It is unlikely that he will take up July 22, so, the Likith Shetty may only come to theatres in August.