Shivarajkumar’s Pavan Wadeyar directorial to go on floors on September 3

It was in February 2024 that Govindaya Namaha and Googly fame director Pavan Wadeyar announced his intention to collaborate with Hattrick Hero Shivarajkumar. At the time, Shivarajkumar was still busy with his home production Bhairathi Ranagal and the upcoming Arjun Janya directorial 45, so there was no start date in sight for his film with Pavan. The filmmaker, though, had said that they would not go on floors until 2025 at least.

Shivarajkumar’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment, which kept him out of action for a while in late 2024 and early 2025 further delayed the start of several of his new projects, with Hemanth M Rao being among the first to get the actor back on set with 666 Operation Dream Theatre. Recently, a film called Dad got rolling, while a home production, A For Anand is also in the works. Amid all of this the Century Star is now gearing up to kickstart his first collaboration with Pavan, who’d done two films with Puneeth Rajkumar earlier – Ranavikrama and Natasaarvabhowma .

Also read: Googly maker Pavan Wadeyar: Other language films like Pushpa are doing well in Karnataka because… 

Dheekshith Shetty joins Shivarajkumar in Pavan Wadeyar film

The film is being backed by the makers of Toxic and Jana Nayagan, in collaboration with Pavan’s home banner, and will also star Dheekshith Shetty, Sanjana Anand, Jayaram, Sai Kumar, Gopalkrishna Deshpande, among others. Dheekshith has not had a release in Kannada since last year’s Blink, and will next be seen in Bank of Bhagyalakshmi. The actor has a few films lined up in Telugu, including The Girlfriend with Rashmika Mandanna. As for Jayaram, this will be his second collaboration with Shivarajkumar after last year’s Ghost.

The team had a muhurtha at a temple in Bengaluru recently, which featured the title Bail on the clapboard, suggesting that it is what Pavan’s film is called. Featuring music by Ajaneesh B Loknath, the film will be shot at locations across the country, including Bengaluru, Mandya, Himachal Pradesh, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.

FAQs

Q. What happened to Shivarajkumar?

A. Shivarajkumar was diagonosed with cancer of the bladder in 2024. Despite initial treatment in Bengaluru, he needed surgery to remove the affected organ. He flew to Miami in December, where he was given a neo-bladder. 

Q. What is Shivarajkumar's next release?

A. Shivarajkumar had completed the shooting of 45 before he left to Miami, but delays in VFX completion have forced a postponement. It will now hit theatres on December 25, 2025.