Is the Hombale Films-Yash combo dream run coming to an end?

There is no official announcement yet about Rocking Star’s much-awaited next, #Yash19, but each time the actor is out at a public event and is seen exchanging pleasantries with KV Reddy of KVN Productions, the buzz is that the latter’s going to pump in a massive Rs 400 crore into making that film happen. While KGF: Chapter 3 was also a potential candidate as Yash’s next, Hombale Films co-founder Vijay Kiragandur’s recent affirmation that it won’t take off until 2025 at least, has set that record straight. Yash19 will not be with Hombale Films.

Kiragandur’s KGF3 statement, though, also mentioned that his production house intended to keep the KGF franchise going and that after the fifth film, a change of actor would be in order. Kiragandur reckons that KGF could be a continuous project just like James Bond, where the actor playing Agent 007 changes every few years. Considering that Yash has been the driving force of KGF all along, films in the franchise without him at the helm seem unthinkable. But if Hombale Films is indeed going ahead with this plan, netizens reckon that it could be because the dream run with Yash is running out of steam. The speculated theory is that the actor and the banner have not come to an understanding on the revenue sharing model.

Yash’s first film with Hombale Films was Masterpiece, which wasn’t a box office success. But as has been practice, they decided to stick with him for yet another film, just as they did with Puneeth Rajkumar, after their disastrous start with Ninnandale. Yash’s next with them was KGF and the rest, as they say, is history. Meanwhile, Hombale’s next biggie is the Prashant Neel directed Salaar with Prabhas in the lead. The film, which also stars Pramod Panju, Shruthi Haasan and Prithviraj Sukumaran, among others, on its cast, is speculated to have a cameo by Yash as Rocky Bhai as well. None of the parties involved with the project have confirmed this yet.