Kannadiga release date: When and where to watch the Ravichandran-starrer film

Crazy Star Ravichandran’s next, the BM Giriraj (Jatta fame) directed Kannadiga is headed for a straight-to-OTT release. The period film, which is about the importance of preservation of Kannada as a language, will stream on the platform from December 17.

In the film, Ravichandran plays Gunabhadra, who hails from a scribe’s family, whose primary concern is to safeguard the sanctity of the Kannada language. Paavana is paired with Ravichandran in the film, which also stars Jayashree, Jamie Alter, Balaji Manohar and Rockline Venkatesh in pivotal roles. Jamie, the son of veteran actor Tom Alter, makes his Kannada film debut with Kannadiga, wherein he plays Reverend Ferdinand Kittel, who is credited with producing the first Kannada-English dictionary.

The film, according to Giriraj, is not a historical documentary, but rather, a drama based on historical facts. The filmmaker adds that the fact that a foreign national was instrumental in producing the first Kannada-English dictionary piqued his interest. The story, though, he says, is not only about this one facet, but also explores the lives of scribes who documented historical works.

Produced by NS Rajkumar, who made Mythri with Giriraj earlier, the film has music by KGF fame Ravi Basrur and was supposedly ready way back in December 2020, including a U/A censor certification. Back then, Giriraj had said that the production house was targeting an early 2021 release, but the devastating second wave of the pandemic put a stop to those plans.

Theatres in Karnataka were allowed to operate at full capacity only in early October, but since then, there has been a deluge of releases, both big and small, which is probably why the makers of Kannadiga opted for a direct-to-OTT release.

Paavana, who plays Ravichandran’s wife in the film, had told us earlier that she took up the project because of it not only gave her an opportunity to work with the Crazy Star, but also based on how strong the character is.