In his 12-year-old career, Kannada actor Dhruva Sarja will be on only his fifth film when Martin releases in theatres on October 11. But for his last, Pogaru, all his other films, including his debut Adhuri, then Bahaddur, Bharjari and now Martin, had delays in production. Dhruva, though never lost heart and soldiered on, because the reception to his films from audiences has been overwhelmingly positive, elevating him to the stardom he enjoys today. This and the fact that Martin is a superior product, gives him the confidence that audiences will like the film.

In the run-up to the film’s release, a lot of talk has been centred on the importance of action in Martin. Multiple stunt choreographers, including Ravi Varma, Ram Laxman, among others, have worked on the film, with the action blocks described to be of international standard. In fact, much of the trailer has also focused on that aspect of the film, which is to be expected given that Martin is a suspense thriller. But one thing that Dhruva wishes to clarify is that just as much as action is a part of Martin, so also is romance.

Dhruva on expectations from his collab with AP Arjun

Speaking to Kannada Pichhar during the promotions of Martin, Dhruva said that the film has a beautiful love story as well. “The minute director AP Arjun and I decided to collaborate again, we knew that audiences would expect a love story. Also, my personal favourite genre is romance and not action. So, a film with me in the lead has to have a love angle, which was not captured in the teaser or the trailer, all of which focused on the action. I wanted to tell my audience that there is more than just action in Martin, which is why we released the romantic duet Jeeva Neene,” he says.

Dhruva, meanwhile, will be seen in two different shades in the film, which netizens speculate to be a double role – as the title character Martin and a soldier called Arjun Saxena. Whether both are one and the same person will be revealed when the film releases, but both avatars have their respective romantic interests in Anveshi Jain and Vaibhavi Shandilya.

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