Rukmini Vasanth is Leela in film with Golden Star Ganesh, Baana Daariyalli

Just over a week ago, long-time buddies Preetham Gubbi and Ganesh had announced their latest collaboration, a film called Baana Daariyalli. Based on a story by cinematographer Preetha Jayaraman, Preetham wrote the screenplay for the film, the title of which was inspired by a song sung by the late Puneeth Rajkumar from the film Bhagyavantha. The film, which is likely to go on floors in mid-May, will be shot across locations in Bengaluru, Chennai, Varanasi and Africa, which should explain the title reveal poster that looked like the African savanna.

While Preetham has been quite tight-lipped about the subject of the film, saying only that it will live up to expectations that audiences have of typical Ganesh movies, with the right amount of emotions, romance and comedy, today, they also announced the film’s leading lady. Rukmini Vasanth, who debuted in Kannada cinema with Birbal: Finding Vajramuni, and is currently working on Rakshit Shetty’s next, Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (directed by Hemanth M Rao), has been signed up opposite Ganesh. The team revealed that she plays Leela in the film, which the actress has been quoted as saying is a character who is a water sports professional.

Rukmini, who is currently on a schedule break of Sapta Sagaradaache Ello, since Rakshit has to change his look, will soon begin training for the water sport. The actress has been quoted as saying that she has seen Preetham’s earlier films with Ganesh, Maleyali Jotheyali and 99, and that she is quite the fan of how the duo handles romance in their collaborations. Baana Daariyalli will have V Harikrishna on board as music director. Preetham is looking at winding up the film as soon as possible to make it an end of 2022 release.