Billa Ranga Baasha: Sudeep's dystopian epic set in 2209 promises to be next big Kannada blockbuster

Kannada superstar Sudeep announced his ambitious project, Billa Ranga Baasha, on Monday, coinciding with his 51st birthday celebration. He unveiled a concept promo that gives a glimpse into the grand idea of a story set in the year 2209.

Based on the promo, it is safe to assume that the film is set against a dystopian backdrop. We see images of the Statue of Liberty in ruins and the Taj Mahal surrounded by nothing but desert and dust, hinting at a grim future.

Billa Ranga Baasha seems to be an epic saga. The movie carries the tagline "First Blood." In the age of franchises, actor-director Anup Bhandari appears to be launching his own cinematic universe. The project has been in development for a few years now.

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Anup was expected to start this project with Sudeep before the Covid outbreak. However, due to the restrictions following the pandemic, Anup and Sudeep collaborated on a different project titled Vikrant Rona. This was an adventure movie made in a studio setting, allowing them to adhere to the restrictions at the time.

However, Billa Ranga Baasha seems to be more ambitious and larger in scale compared to Vikrant Rona. The film is bankrolled by Primeshow Entertainment, the banner that produced this year’s biggest Telugu blockbuster, HanuMan.

Sudeep has been pursuing ambitious projects in Kannada following the breakout success of KGF: Chapter 2. The Kannada film industry has been struggling to replicate the success of KGF 2 and Kantara, both within Karnataka and across the country. It seems that Billa Ranga Baasha could potentially bridge that gap and become the Kannada film industry's next big blockbuster.

At the moment, Sudeep is waiting for the release of MAX, which is a Kannada-Tamil bilingual film.

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