Muhurtha of Dhananjaya’s milestone 25th film, Hoysala, on April 22

Daali Dhananjaya’s milestone 25th film was announced way back in January as a Sankranti special, but given the actor’s other commitments, including to his home production Head Bush, it is only now that the film is set to go on floors.

To be directed by Vijay N, who made the Golden Star Ganesh starrer Geetha earlier, Hoysala , which has the tagline, Rakṣhasara Rakṣhasa Arakṣhaka, is being bankrolled by Karthik Gowda and Yogi G Raj for KRG Studios, which also produced Dhananjaya’s earlier film, Rathnan Prapancha. The film, a cop story, will be set in Belagavi, and was announced as a Rajyotsava 2022 release, meaning that Dhananjaya will grace screens on November 1 this year. The film will have music by one of Tollywood’s most popular composers, S Thaman.

The film, we hear, is now set to be launched, with the makers planning the muhurtha on April 22. The title Hoysala was earlier held by late producer Koti Ramu, which he wanted to make as a film with Century Star Shivarajkumar. KRG Studios acquired it from Ramu Films for the Dhananjaya starrer.

Fans of the actor are keenly looking forward to his cop avatar, even though he was seen in khaki in last year’s Salaga. Although Dhananjaya had a pivotal role in the Duniya Vijay directorial, Salaga is seen as the latter’s film, so, in that sense, Hoysala becomes Dhananjaya’s full-fledged police character film. Expectations are that the film will be based on a real-life political incident from the Belagavi region, although the makers have made no indication on this front.

Dhananjaya, who was last seen onscreen in his debut home production Badava Rascal, which is now available to stream on Voot Select, apart from his role in Pushpa-The Rise, has a bunch of films in various stages of production. There’s his production Head Bush, in which he plays don MP Jayaraj, as well as Once Upon a Time in Jamaligudda, Monsoon Raaga and Bairagee, among others.