PremiumMalayalam actor-producer Vijay Babu forays into Kannada cinema with Uttarakaanda
Uttarakaanda is produced by KRG Studios, a banner with which Vijay Babu has an ongoing business relationship. Vijay will play a gangster in the film set in north Karnataka
Last Updated: 03.59 PM, Apr 17, 2024
The team of director Rohit Padaki’s Uttarakaanda was not kidding when they said that details about the film’s cast, besides leading men Dhananjaya and Shivarajkumar, in the days following the official start of shooting on April 15. They began with Chaithra J Achar as Lacchi and have followed that up with the announcement that Malayalam actor and producer Vijay Babu will be making his Kannada film debut as gangster Torrino.
But who is Vijay Babu? Kannada audiences may remember him as one of the new collaborators that KRG Studios has partnered up with for distribution of Malayalam cinema in Karnataka and of Kannada films in Kerala. KRG Studios had distributed Vijay’s Friday Film House’s maiden Kannada venture, the remake of his earlier production Adi Kapyare Kootamani, which KM Chaitanya made as Abbabba with Likith Shetty and Amrutha Iyengar in the lead, as well as Valatty.
In February this year, the two banners resolved to work together and co-produce a movie called Padakkalam, the first of a three-film joint venture. Besides producing and distributing Malayalam films, Vijay is also a prolific actor, who’s been in Malayalam cinema since 2011, with films like 22 Female Kottayam, Phillips and the Monkey Pen, Aadu Oru Bheegara Jeevi Aanu and Home, among many others. He now steps into Kannada cinema with Uttarakaanda, a two-part gangster flick set in north Karnataka. The film is currently being shot in Bijapur.
In 2022, Vijay was embroiled in a case of alleged sexual harassment, which came up around the time of Abbabba’s initial release plan. Amid the brouhaha of the case, he had left the country, forcing co-producer Ann Augustine to postpone the release indefinitely. While Vijay has always denied the allegations, he ran into more trouble for naming the alleged victim during a social media live video.