Roopesh Shetty: It’s smart that the team of Manku Bhai Foxy Rani is releasing it now, after my Bigg Boss Kannada win

This Sankranti, there are two Kannada films that are going to vie for a chunk of the box office in Karnataka. While the festival is normally dominated by Tamil and Telugu biggies and this year is no different, the team of Orchestra Mysuru announced they would try their luck and now, joining them is the cast and crew of Manku Bhai Foxy Rani. The twist here, though, is that the latter has Roopesh Shetty in the lead, and he is currently the toast of town, having won the ninth season of the popular reality show, Bigg Boss Kannada only days ago.

Roopesh, who spent over 140 days in the Bigg Boss House and won both the OTT season and the ninth season of the TV show, attended the film’s trailer launch this morning. Speaking at the event, he said that he had actually told director-writer Gagan to bring the film to OTT at least, somehow, given that there was no surety of theatres reopening at that point or of people coming to movie halls, for that matter. “I shot for Manku Bhai Foxy Rani way back in 2019 and I had told Gagan to sell it to an OTT and ensure some business. I wondered why he didn’t listen to me, but now I realize it was a smart move, because I am fresh off Bigg Boss Kannada Season 9,” said Roopesh.

When he was approached for Manku Bhai…, Roopesh had just had a Tulu fit called Girgit under his belt, so, he was hoping to do a hardcore commercial film next. “Instead, Gagan told me that it is not the kind of film I was expecting. He not only wanted me to gain weight, but also take off my beard. I am very attached to my beard, so getting rid of it for the role was not easy for me. But the role seemed nice – the story is set in Mangaluru, where I play a Yakshagana performer from a quaint little village. I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but since it was a Kannada film, I decided to go ahead and do it,” he said.

Manku Bhai Foxy Rani, which also stars Geetha Bharati Bhat in the lead, will be in theatres on January 13.