Madhagaja director Mahesh Kumar’s next with Abishek Ambareesh?

Today is the late Rebel Star Ambareesh’s birth anniversary; he would have been 70. On the auspicious occasion, his son and actor Abishek Ambareesh has a couple of announcements to share with fans. The first is the first look of his film with cinematographer-director Krishna, called Kaali. The second, though, is a speculation. Director Mahesh Kumar, of Ayogya and Madhagaja fame, is set to announce his next at 2 pm today and the buzz is that he will direct Abishek’s fourth film.

Abishek had made his debut with the 2019 film Amar, directed by Nagashekar, which did not give him a flying start. In fact, Amar was earlier supposed to be made with Manu Ravichandran as Novembernalli Naanu Avalu, but eventually became Abishek’s launchpad. The actor, who is called Junior Rebel Star by fans, is currently working on a film with Duniya Soori, Bad Manners, which is widely believed to mark his relaunch in the industry. While Amar was a love story, Bad Manners has the actor in a more rough-and-tough avatar as a police officer.

Kaali, we hear, is a period film set in the 90s, at the height of the Cauvery agitations. The romantic entertainer will apparently go on floors in June, by which time Abishek is hoping to wind up Bad Manners, which is currently in its final schedule. If the rumours about his fourth film are indeed true, Abishek will then team up with Mahesh.

Twitterati, though, has been less than pleased with this rumour. Mahesh’s second film, Madhagaja, which had Sriimurali in the lead, was made under KGF maker Prashant Neel’s supervision. But industry insiders say that Mahesh failed to execute Prashant’s vision for the film, which eventually resulted in its less than stellar showing at the box office. Fans reckon that if Mahesh could not handle a star with expert input, he may not be able to do justice to Abishek, who is still making baby steps in the industry.

Of course, all of this is speculation at the moment, but if it does turn out to be true, it would be interesting to see what fans of the Junior Rebel Star make of this collaboration.