Sharan’s Choo Mantar release back on track after 2 aborted attempts

A horror comedy that brought together a filmmaker whose claim to fame was a horror action thriller hit called Karvva, and a hero whose forte is humour, Choo Mantar had a lot of intrigue surrounding it. Directed by Navneeth, with Sharan in the lead, the film was meant to be in theatres on April 5, but was then pushed ahead to May 10. But when it did not make both those dates, the team decided to hold on and not decide on a third one, until they had their ducks in a row.

Exclusive! Sharan: Exorcism, as depicted in Choo Mantar, will be novel for Kannada audiences 

The first postponement was to accommodate Sharan’s film Avatara Purusha 2 on April 5, while technical issues were cited as the reason for the second delay, although sources told OTTplay that it was more to do with figuring out pre-release business deals. It's taken them more than half a year, but it seems that the team of Choo Mantar is finally ready to bring the film to theatres. A teaser and release date announcement is expected on December 9.

Sharan’s Choo Mantar censored; run-time of horror comedy revealed

In anticipation of an earlier release, the film had been censored. It was given U/A certification with a runtime of 2 hours and 22 minutes. The film, according to Sharan, has him, a priest, Aditi Prabhudeva and Chikkanna playing new-age exorcists. They are called to address supernatural activities in the home of an NRI couple played by Prabhu Mundkur and Meghana Gaonkar. While Sharan films typically lean heavily on humour, Choo Mantar will be more about horror, the actor had said.

Sharan’s last release was Avatara Purusha 2, a sequel that was also plagued by several delays. The film, though, tanked at the box office. The actor was also to do a film with Puksatte Lifeu director Aravind Kuplikar, but sources suggest that the project’s been put on hold. Aravind will be seen as an actor in Nimitta Matra, directed by Roshan D’Souza.