Kantara girl Sapthami Gowda bags The Kashmir Files maker’s next, The Vaccine War

It is being called her big Bollywood break, but Sapthami Gowda is already a popular name and face in those circles thanks to her second Kannada film, Kantara, which later became a pan-India phenomenon with versions in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Nevertheless, her next in Hindi is big, one could say – it’s The Kashmir Files maker Vivek Agnihotri’s The Vaccine War. Sapthami will join the cast including Vivek’s wife Pallavi Joshi, who is also producing the film, Anupam Kher, Nana Patekar, and Divya Seth, among others.

“I’m glad and excited to be a part of this project ! Thank you @vivekagnihotri sir for this opportunity,” wrote Sapthami on her social media pages. The actress is expected to join the team in the Hyderabad schedule, which is expected to begin in a couple of days. Speaking to the Indian Express about casting Sapthami, Vivek had said that he liked her performance as Leela in Kantara and wanted her to be a part of his film. The film is scheduled to release on August 15 in 11 languages, including Hindi, Kannada, English, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Assamese and Urdu.

Meanwhile, back home, Sapthami is on board Junior Rebel Star Abishek Ambareesh’s next, Kaali, which is directed by cinematographer-filmmaker S Krishna. The film is a period love story, set during the Cauvery riots and follows the romance between a guy from Karnataka and a girl from Tamil Nadu. Sapthami is expected to join the set of Kaali once she’s done with her portions for The Vaccine War. The actress, who came into films with Duniya Suri’s Popcorn Monkey Tiger, as one of three heroines, got her first break as a solo lead in Rishab Shetty’s Kantara. The film, which was a massive hit, collecting over Rs 400 crore at the box office, recently made it to the Oscars reminder list.