Ramesh Aravind's Shivaji Surathkal is heading back to theatres

When the country went into lockdown in March,

director Akash Srivatsa

's detective tale,

Shivaji Surathkal

: The Case of

Ranagiri Rahasya

, which was leading man Ramesh Aravind's

101st film

, was not only doing fairly well at the box office, but had also garnered favourable critic reviews. But then, like all other films that were in movie halls at the time, it too had to cut short its theatrical run.
The film was supposed to have its London premiere and US release at the time, all of which not only had to be put off, but also forced the makers to look at other options to get their film to audiences, including a TV and OTT release.
But now, with theatres set to open on October 15 as part of Unlock 5.0, audiences will have an opportunity to watch the mystery of Ranagiri unfold on the big screen again.
The film is the first in a franchise planned by the makers, with Ramesh as the titular detective Shivaji Surathkal. For Akash, the film was his tribute to the detective thriller genre, particularly Hercules Poirot and

Sherlock Holmes

. Given that the Case of Ranagiri Rahasya was earmarked as the 101st for the reel detective, it affords the team the luxury to plan future installments as episodes in any given timeline, either before or after this case.
Beside Ramesh, Shivaji Surathkal also starred Radhika Narayan, Avinash, Ramesh Pandit and Rohith Bhanuprakash, among others and had music by Judah Sandhy.