Chakravarthy (2017 film)

The film has been under production development since early 2008. Script and dialogue writer Chintan who had finally succeeded by choosing his "mentor" Darshan as his lead actor for the project.[5] Chintan had previously collaborated with Darshan as a writer for the films such as Saarathi and Ambareesha. For the financial aid, he chose Saarathi producer Sathyaprakash to invest in his new project. Reportedly, Darshan had been paid an advance by Sathyaprakash to star in the film after he completed Ambareesha film.[6] The film was in development hell throughout the year 2015 as Darshan got busy with his previous commitments.[7] In early 2016, the project was revived with the producer Sathyaprakash dropping out from the project due to undisclosed reasons. Another actor turned producer Siddhanth along with producer Anaji Nagaraj took over the project in May 2016 and announced the official launch of the film would be on the 24th of the same month.[8]

In 2014, Chintan, along with producer Sathyaprakash, approached Darshan to star in the lead role for which he signed in and gave his dates only after completing his projects like Ambareesha and Jaggu Dada. Upon his availability in April 2016, the film crew went on with the process of casting. Actress Anjali was cast for the leading role in April 2016.[9] But soon after, after the official launch of the film at Mysore, she walked out of the project citing issues with the team which got irked due to her delayed presence for the shoot.[10] In the same month, the team roped in actors Auditya and Srujan Lokesh to play important supporting roles with the former being selected to play a cop role.[11] Darshan's brother-director Dinakar Thoogudeepa was chosen to make his acting debut as an antagonist through this film.[12] After the ouster of Anjali, the female lead search ended up with Deepa Sannidhi chosen to make her comeback to Kannada films after a brief hiatus.[13] Actor-turned-politician Kumar Bangarappa was added to the star cast in September 2016 to play an antagonist role. According to the director, all the shots featuring him would be filmed in Malaysia, and his schedule would start from mid-September 2016.[14] Actress Ishita Vyas was signed in to feature in an item song for the film.

After the official launch of the film on 25 May 2016 at Mysuru, the filming began on 26 May with a huge set erected at the Premier studios. Darshan's first look of sporting a vintage 1980's looks was revealed soon after the shooting began. After wrapping the first schedule involving actors Deepa Sannidhi and Srujan Lokesh, the team released the first look of the film, with Deepa sporting a retro look, clad in a sari. Her character name was revealed as Shanti, and that she would be an important part of Chakravarthy's life.[15] The filming went on at a brisk pace until early September when the shooting was stalled due to the Cauvery river dispute in Karnataka. To express solidarity, Darshan suggested the team to refrain from shooting during that time.[16] The team flew to Bangkok for three days to shoot some song sequences. The next schedule involving actors Darshan, Kumar Bangarappa, and Srujan Lokesh were canned in Malaysia. In October 2016, a poster showing Darshan in a blonde hair look was released and received positive response.[17]

The trailer of the film was released on 29 March 2017. The two-minute trailer featured no dialogues and, as revealed by the director prior to the release, was "cut with around 200 shots, which also includes the cruise, a jetski, a chopper and highlights with music and effects in the background."[1]