Rakshit Shetty is giving finishing touches to the script of his next directorial, Richard Anthony, which comes 10 years after the first, Ulidavaru Kandanthe and is a spin-off of the latter. The Hombale Films production, which will go on floors shortly is an exploration of his character Richie aka Richard Anthony, before and after Ulidavaru Kandanthe, as per the tag line that appeared on the title reveal teaser.

Rakshit is currently in Udupi, where he will be joined by the rest of the team of Richard Anthony to get the show on the road. Pre-production begins on May 1, he revealed today, among other things, with his casting criteria drawing special attention. For Richard Anthony, Rakshit wants to go with a predominantly local cast, as in artistes from Udupi or surrounding areas, who have mastery over the dialect of the region. Could this mean that KGF girl Srinidhi Shetty will be the leading lady or have a major role in the film? She is from Mulki, after all, and has worked with Hombale Films earlier on KGF. Also, some online banter that she’d had with Rakshit had sparked rumours of a collaboration.

If not Srinidhi, who else could be in line to be a part of Richard Anthony? Miss India 2022 Sini Shetty has Mangaluru roots, but hails from Mumbai. Yasha Shivakumar and Rachana Rai are popular names from the coastal belt. Also, from Mangaluru are Sonal Monteiro and Nimika Ratnakar, as well as anchor and actress Anushree, with the latter being a close friend of the Shetty trio. Will Rakshit go for a tried-and-tested name or introduce someone new?

Rakshit had earlier said that some of the main characters from Ulidavaru Kandanthe would be in Richard Anthony too, like, for instance, Achyuth Kumar. But sources also tell us that the actor-filmmaker will tap into the coastal area’s vast theatre artiste pool to satisfy his local talent criteria.

Ulidavaru Kandanthe, the film that Richard Anthony is based on, is available to stream on OTTplay Premium. All you have to do is subscribe to the Simply South pack. 

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