Ahead of the release of Dulquer Salmaan's Kaantha on November 14, Rana Daggubati has announced that his production house, Spirit Media, has onboarded a Hindi-language feature.
According to Variety, the yet-untitled production is an adaptation of Aravind Adiga's book "Last Man in Tower". Manoj Bajpayee will lead the cast, with Ben Rekhi directing.
The report mentions the feature is part of a five-film slate comprising Kaantha and three other films in the Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi languages.
The book revolves around real estate and features a retired schoolteacher protagonist, whose refusal to go along with the other residents' decision to agree to a builder’s proposal to buy the entire apartment leads to a conflict between the two parties.
“Manoj Bajpayee has played so many iconic roles, and to partner with him on a story like this — we couldn’t have had a better team of collaborators to do our first Hindi film with," Daggubati told Variety in an official statement.
"With Kaantha, the adaptation of ‘Last Man in Tower,’ and the other films we’re supporting in different capacities — have all given us a chance to partner with different creative teams — directors, writers, and producers. Our goal remains to shape Spirit Media into a creative home for independent producers, a space that nurtures collaboration and storytelling across industries and languages,” says the Baahubali star.
In his statement, Manoj Bajpayee says the responsibility to tackle Adiga's book is both "meaningful" and "inspiring," and feels reassured by the support offered by Rana Daggubati’s studio. "Their belief in sincere storytelling gives the film the space and confidence it deserves. Working with Ben Rekhi has been a very rewarding experience,” the actor added.
As for Kaantha, Dulquer shared that the story was pitched to him in 2019, and he immediately fell in love with it.
“It truly is a labour of love and one of the most special films in my career. The process of partnering with newer creative talent and Rana as a producer has been a really fulfilling experience,” said the actor, who is basking in the tremendous success of his production, Lokah: Chapter 1 - Chandra, now streaming on JioHotstar.
The other projects from Spirit Media are in the Telugu language. These are Dark Chocolate, a dark-comedy co-produced by Waltair Productions; Psyche Siddharth, which will be presented and distributed by Spirit Media; and Premante, a rom-com-thriller jointly produced by Jhanvi Narang. The last one will hit theatres on November 21.
Daggubati recently distributed Payal Kapadia's Cannes winner, All We Imagine As Light, and Rohan Kanawade's acclaimed Marathi feature, Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears).
