Kshetrapathi release date: Naveen Shankar and Archana Jois’ film settles for a mid-August outing

Naveen Shankar’s much-anticipated film as leading man, Kshetrapathi, has locked its date with audiences. A while ago, the team announced that the film will be in theatres on August 18. Kshetrapathi, the debut vehicle of engineer-turned-filmmaker Shrikant Katagi, is a film about the agrarian crisis, with Naveen in the role of an engineer from a farming background, who returns home to lead the ‘right fight for the right’.

In industry circles, it was said that Kshetrapathi would be a July release, with either 21st or 28th as the most likely dates. The film’s teaser had also hinted at a July theatrical outing. Earlier today, when OTTplay spoke to Naveen, he also said that July 28th was the desired date, but added that it was unlikely that the team could meet this deadline as they were doing some last-minute improvement work on the final product. 

“We wanted to go ahead with July 28, but so far, we have been unable to concentrate on promotions of the film. For a July 28 release, we should have started by now. We had taken some creative calls to shoot some new bits, which have to be edited into the film. We recently saw the first cut of the film and felt that certain sequences could do with a little enhancement. So, we’ve just done slight add-ons to give the film the right mix of class and mass. For instance, in the pre-climax sequence we have added a few shots that give it more depth now. There’s also some work pending on the re-recording, which is why we’ve chosen to push the release to August 18,” Naveen had said. The date, he added, was chosen based on the releases of Rajinikanth’s Jailer (August 10) and Chiranjeevi’s Bhola Shankar (August 11). “We thought that a week after these two biggies would be a good window,” he said.