No end in sight for Dhruva Sarja’s Martin?

Dhruva Sarja has been in the film industry for about 12 years, but is only four films old as a leading man, what with most of his projects being unduly delayed. His fifth was meant to be Martin, a film that reunited him with director AP Arjun, who launched him in 2012 with Addhuri. But nearly 2 and half years into production, the film remains incomplete. The latest buzz is that there are still two songs to be canned.

What’s with the delay, though? Here’s all that we’ve been hearing about the project from sources. Martin was launched as pan-India film with Arjun at the helm, after producer Uday K Mehta’s attempts to make a film called Dubaari with Pogaru maker Nandakishore fell through. Launched in August 2021, Martin was based on a story by Dhruva’s uncle Action King Arjun Sarja. Although AP Arjun was in the director’s chair, sources suggest that all creative decisions regarding the film were run by the senior Sarja, which allegedly caused delays in shooting repeatedly. In the later stages, there were rumours of a rift between Dhruva and producer Uday, but the actor rubbished this during a press briefing for his birthday in last October.

The film was initially announced as a September 30, 2022 release, where it would have clashed with Kantara, but it was eventually pushed ahead. Subsequently, A December 2022, March 2023 and Dasara 2023 probable release, but the team was not able to meet any of those and any questions regarding the release was met with responses about pending song shoots and VFX work. In fact, when OTTplay spoke to AP Arjun about the song shoot, considering that Dhruva had lost much of the bulk he’d put on for Martin, the filmmaker had brushed it away, saying that it was cakewalk for the actor to gain that muscle mass again in a short span of time. And yet, Dhruva is still in the look he’s sporting for his next, KD The Devil.

Dhruva Sarja: Martin release date will depend on completion of VFX work 

Martin was meant to be a big budget film, but in the time since it went on floors, it has ballooned and how, with sources claiming that much of it down to the massive interest payments currently being incurred by the team with each passing day of delay. Currently, Martin’s budget is estimated at a whopping Rs 100 crore, recovery of which is going to be a tough ask for the team. The box office figure of Dhruva’s last film, Pogaru, stands at only around Rs 45 crore, as per reports. Even if Uday manages to sell the post-theatrical rights and audio to the tune of about 50 crore, the rest will have to come from theatres. Whether the team bit off more than they can chew will be seen if and when Martin eventually makes it to theatres.

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