Ravichandran's Ravi Boppanna decoded in the film’s song, Heronu Ivane Villanu Ivane

Last evening, actor-director Ravichandran V released a lyrical song video from his next directorial, Ravi Boppanna. The song, Heronu Ivane Villanu Ivane, has been written and composed by the Crazy Star and sung by Sujatha Kamath, Santhosh Venky, Madhwesh Baradwaj, Aniruddha Sastry, and gives audiences a better picture of what to expect of the film’s leading man – a boss for both class and mass audiences. The video also offers very brief glimpses of the actor’s looks in the film, which spans a few decades and hence sees Ravichandran in a younger avatar as well.

Ravi Boppanna film is the Kannada remake of the hit 2018 Malayalam film Joseph, which had Joju George in the lead. The role had fetched Joju a Kerala State Award for Best Character Actor. The film is an investigation thriller that centres on a retired police officer with an eye for detail, who uncovers an organ-trafficking racket, but ends up making a great sacrifice in the process. Ravichandran, in the title role, is joined by actors Sudeep, Kavya Shetty, Ramya Krishnan, Jai Jagdish, Ravishankar Gowda and Mohan Shankar, among others. Rachita Ram and Sanchita Padukone will also be seen in pivotal roles apparently, but Ravichandran had been tight-lipped about the same. What is known is that Kavya is paired opposite the actor, while Sudeep plays a lawyer. In the original film, veteran actor Nedumudi Venu was a lawyer.

Although it seems from the teaser that Ravichandran has stayed true to the original as far as possible, Kavya has said that the actor-director has made certain changes to the narrative, including to her role, which gets more screen time in the Kannada version. The film, we hear, is censored and ready for release, although Ravichandran is yet to announce a date. Since his son Manu’s film Mugilpete is up for release on November, an announcement about Ravi Boppanna is expected thereafter.

The original Malayalam film was written by Shahi Kabir, a civil police officer with the Kerala Police, who has been quoted as saying that some of the events narrated in Joseph were inspired by real events he saw on the job. After the film’s release, Shahi was also at the receiving end of backlash from the medical community about the organ-trafficking racket detailed in it.