Kiccha Sudeep confirms that his next will be Billa Ranga Baashaa with Anup Bhandari

When Kannada superstar Kiccha Sudeep and Rangitaranga fame director Anup Bhandari first met and decided to collaborate, it was supposed to be for a film called Billa Ranga Baashaa. A futuristic thriller set in 2209 AD, BRB, as the film’s been abbreviated, was touted to be one of Sudeep’s most expensive films to date. At the time, Anup was tinkering around with a couple of other scripts too, one of which, Vikrant Rona, turned out to be the first to go on floors. Another, Ashwatthama, is also in the works.

With Vikrant Rona up for release on July 28, pushed ahead from an earlier February 25 date, the question on every one’s mind has been about Sudeep’s next. The actor is known to collaborate repeatedly with technicians that he is comfortable with and Anup, on account of their close association over the last few years, including on the Kannada dubbed version of Dabangg 3, is in Sudeep’s inner circle now.

In fact, when last asked, Anup had said that he had three scripts ready for Sudeep, Billa Ranga Baashaa, Ashwatthama and a sequel to Vikrant Rona, but that it was up to the actor to decide which one he’d want to go with first. Back in September 2020, Anup had posted a poster about Ashwatthama, which was to be produced by Sudeep. So, it was assumed that it would be their next collaboration. The question, though, was also if Sudeep would jump directly into another Anup film or work with another team and then return to work on one of the three scripts.

This was answered in February this year, when Sudeep posted a collage image of him in a more sleek avatar for Vikrant Rona and another, of him having piled on a few pounds. “Losing pounds,,, To gaining pounds, For the same director's conviction. The very sleek "VikrantRona" ,, To the new me,, for "???" he had posted alongside. Fans, of course, that the three question marks could only denote Billa Ranga Baashaa, and turns out, they were right.

According to the latest, though, Sudeep will start working on Billa Ranga Baashaa next. Speaking during the Chennai leg of the Vikrant Rona trailer promotions, Sudeep said that pre-production on Billa Ranga Baashaa, under Anup’s direction is already on.