Last Updated: 05.22 PM, Nov 22, 2021
Nikhil Kumar is counting down to the release of his third film, Rider, a Kannada-Telugu bilingual family drama in which he is paired with Kashmira Pardeshi. Directed by Vijay Kumar Konda, a popular name in Tollywood circles, for whom Rider will be a Kannada film debut, this is a sports-based drama, in which Nikhil apparently plays a basketball player.
While rumours of a possible December release for the film have been doing the rounds for a while, the team today announced that it would hit theatres on December 24, in direct competition with Dhananjaya’s debut production, Badava Rascal. Speaking to us earlier, Sunil Gowda of Shivanandi Entertainments, one of the co-producers of the film, had said, ““Rider is a feel-good love story with elements of action, in which Nikhil is a basketball player. The film has been made as a bilingual because both of Nikhil’s earlier films, Jaguar and Seetharama Kalyana, were also released for the Telugu market and did fairly well. We are hopeful of a festive season release, because this is a big-budget project. In the meantime, we will be releasing the songs from the film in the run-up to the release.”
“For the action sequences we have stunt masters Ravi Varma, Chethan DSouza and Arjun Raj on board, while song choreography is by Bhushan. The film has been shot across locations in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Chikkamagaluru, and Leh-Ladakh, among others, which have been beautifully captured by cinematographer Sreesha Kudavalli, making Rider a visual extravaganza,” adds Sunil.
Also starring Sampada Hulivana as the second lead, the film has Chikkanna, Shivaraj KR Pete, Dattanna, Achyuth Kumar, Niharika, Manju Pavagada, Rajesh Nataranga, Shobharaj in pivotal roles.
Rider has music by Arjun Janya and two songs have already been released, with the Armaan Malik number Davva Davva becoming an instant hit.