Zaid Khan wanted to take over film meant for Yash before Cult

Banaras actor Zaid Khan’s second film, Cult, has him collaborating with director Anil Kumar, whom he’d met years ago at Rocking Star Yash’s office in Bengaluru. Following the success of the filmmaker’s last, the comedy film Upadhyaksha, Zaid wanted to work with Anil, but he also had his gaze fixed firmly on a script that the director’s had ready for a while.

Did you know: Zaid Khan wanted to do THIS Yash film?

“Zaid wanted to know if I would be willing to do My Name is Kirataka with him, as the project had been stalled and he was keen to do it. But I declined, because it was a script that had been written for Yash and that I cannot envision anyone but him in that character,” Anil said in a conversation with Gaurish Akki Studio, during the promotions of Cult.

Also read: Cult actor Zaid Khan: Audiences will be surprised with some of the sequences in the film 

Once he let Zaid down gently, Anil told the actor that he would revert when he has another script ready. He then checked out Banaras, and figured that since he’s already done a love story, he’d have to write something that would be as good as a launchpad and be a showreel for Zaid as an artiste.

“When working with a relative newbie, there are two chains of thought – what are the elements required to make the actor and the story stand out and win and, in case the film fails, what does the actor have to do to make a mark. I wrote the script of Cult keeping that in mind, with the focus firmly on all that Zaid has to bring to the table,” he added.

My Name is Kirataka, meanwhile, is the sequel to Yash’s earlier Kirataka , which had taken off in September 2018, but was then stalled after KGF: Chapter 1’s success and his commitment to bring out KGF: Chapter 2 soon enough. In early 2019, Yash had said that the film had not been shelved and that it had only been postponed by a couple of years. However, since the monstrous success of KGF-2, there’s been no further development on My Name is Kirataka and going by his current trajectory, there is no chance of him returning to play a small time villager again.

Cult FAQs

Q. Who is the hero of the Kannada film Cult?

A. Zaid Khan, the son of Karnataka politician Zameer Ahmed Khan, is the hero of Cult. This is Zaid's second film as a leading man, after Banaras.

Q. Where to watch the Kannada film Cult?

A. The Kannada film Cult will release in theatres on January 23, 2026. The Anil Kumar directorial stars Zaid Khan along with Upadhyaksha and Vidyapati fame Malaika Vasupal and Rachita Ram.