Laughing Buddha, a film produced by actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty, was a project he was to bankroll a few years ago, right after he’d made Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shale Kasaragode. At the time, it did not pan out and was put on the backburner, but Rishab was keen to get it rolling at some point, because he quite liked the story that director M Bharath Raj had pitched.

By the time everything fell in place to get Laughing Buddha on the road, there was just one problem. Rishab was supposed to play a character in the film, but his preparation for Kantara: Chapter 1 meant that he would be unable to do it. When the team was then looking for a replacement, they zeroed in on Diganth Manchale, who was also quite kicked about the character, details of which they want to keep under wraps till the film hits theatres on August 30.

In fact, Bharath says that he did not want to reveal Diganth’s presence in the film prior to the release, with the mystery surrounding his character to unfold in theatres. But then Rishab decided to give a minor hint, without revealing to much about the plot, as the primary focus is to get people to come to theatres, which, today is quite unpredictable. 

Talking about his casting during the film’s first song release, Diganth said that when he was called to talk about Laughing Buddha, Rishab told him that this was character that he was to do and couldn’t because of his busy schedule. “So then I asked him if he had any plans of letting go of his other commitments, like Bellbottom 2, etc., and offered to do his roles,” Diganth joked.

Interestingly, the release of Laughing Buddha was pushed ahead by a week for Diganth’s Powder, which is releasing on August 23. Laughing Buddha also stars Teju Belawadi, Sunder Raj, among others.

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