Game Changer (film)
Game Changer is an upcoming Indian Telugu-language political action thriller film directed by S. Shankar in his Telugu directorial debut and written by Karthik Subbaraj. Produced by Dil Raju and Sirish under the banner Sri Venkateswara Creations, the film stars Ram Charan, leading an ensemble cast that includes Kiara Advani, Anjali, S. J. Suryah, Jayaram, Sunil, Srikanth, Samuthirakani, and Nassar. The film was announced in February 2021 with the tentative title RC15 and began its production in October 2021; filming took place in Hyderabad, New Zealand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Visakhapatnam and Punjab. The official title was unveiled on 27 March 2023, during Charan's birthday. The film score and soundtrack album are composed by Thaman S with cinematography by Tirru. Cast
 Ram Charan
 Kiara Advani
 Anjali
 S. J. Suryah
 Jayaram
 Sunil
 Srikanth
 Samuthirakani
 Nassar
 Naveen Chandra
 Rajeev Kanakala

Production

Development 
In February 2021, it was announced that Shankar and Ram Charan were collaborating for a film produced by Dil Raju and Sirish. The film marks Shankar's directorial debut in Telugu cinema. The project was produced under Raju's Sri Venkateswara Creations. The company made a public announcement on 12 February 2021, confirming the project. They began with the working title of RC15 as it is intended to be 15th film of Charan as a lead actor. It is also referred to as SVC50 as it marks the 50th production venture of Sri Venkateswara Creations. The film's official title was revealed as Game Changer on 27 March 2023, on the occasion of Charan's birthday. Shankar gave an estimated cost of  for the film's production. Later, on the request of the producer, the budget was reportedly cut down to . Also with Kamal Haasan’s Indian 2 getting back again to shooting sets, the issues got more troublesome for the film and the budget was reportedly increased to  to finish all schedules of the film. Pre-production 
Director Karthik Subbaraj wrote the film's original story with Shankar writing the screenplay. Sai Madhav Burra contributed the dialogues. Tirru is signed as the cinematographer who worked for four schedules. The technical team of the film consists of editor Shameer Muhammed, action choreographer duo Anbariv and art director Avinash Kolla. Thaman S would score the music, in his first film with the director. Dance choreographers of the film includes Jani Master, Prem Rakshith, Prabhu Deva, Bosco Martis, Ganesh Acharya and Sandy Master. Casting 
Charan reportedly plays a dual role as a father and son. In July 2021 it was announced that Kiara Advani was signed on to be the lead actress which marks her second collaboration with Charan after Vinaya Vidheya Rama. Anjali was cast in a pivotal role, while Sunil, Srikanth, Jayaram, and Naveen Chandra were all confirmed to be a part of the film. In February 2022, S. J. Suryah was approached for a role and was later confirmed to be part of the film in September 2022. Filming 
The film was formally launched with a muhurat shot on 8 September 2021 at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad with a traditional pooja ceremony attended by Ranveer Singh, Chiranjeevi, and S. S. Rajamouli. Principal photography began on 22 October 2021 and the first schedule was completed in the first week of November. Filming took place in Maharashtra at Pune, Satara and Phaltan. Later that month, a song was shot for 10 days, at a specially erected set in Ramoji Film City. The song, which also included international dancers, was choreographed by Jani Master. The Times of India reported that nearly  was spent on the song. During the schedule, the team has also shot a 7-minute action sequence at a reported cost of . Anbariv and others were hired to design these action sequences in the film. The third schedule for the film commenced in February 2022. Planned for about 20 days, the shoot take place in Andhra Pradesh at Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Kovvur and other nearby places of West Godavari and East Godavari districts. Later the same month, it was reported that filming for Indian 2, also directed by Shankar for which the production was halted for two and a half years, would take place after wrapping up the film shoot. Charan took a break from filming to take part in RRR film's success celebrations, and returned to shooting in April. Charan and Advani began a 20-day schedule at Amritsar in April to shoot college portions. For undisclosed reasons, R. Rathnavelu joined the unit in Amritsar to complete the remaining portions in place of Tirru. In May, the crew shot a schedule in Visakhapatnam. By July 2022, 60% of the filming was completed with the director intending to wrap up filming by December. Earlier the same month, a massive song involving around 1000 dancers was shot in Punjab and Hyderabad. After the song shoot, an action sequence involving 1200 fighters was planned. In August, Shankar confirmed that he would be shooting simultaneously for both Game Changer and Indian 2. The filming for the film was planned to resume in early September in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. In November 2022, 10 days of schedule happened in New Zealand where the team picturized an expensive song across multiple exotic locations in New Zealand. In February 2023, filming was resumed with few scenes shot at Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management, Visakhapatnam followed by Simhachalam and Charminar. Few pictures containing scenes from the set were leaked online, during the filming at the university. In March 2023, song involving 100 dancers, choreographed by Prabhu Deva was shot. In April 2023, Shankar revealed that he would be shooting the climax scenes soon. On 26 April 2023, film's climax scenes filming started under the supervision of Anbariv, in a special set in Shamshabad, Hyderabad. Charan shot high combat scenes with 1200 fighters for the same. On 9 May, filming of the climax was wrapped. In July, an action sequence choreographed by Peter Hein was wrapped in Hyderabad. Music 
The film's soundtrack and score is composed by Thaman S, in his third collaboration with Charan, after Naayak and Bruce Lee. It is also the first musical collaboration, along with his second overall collaboration, with Shankar, after making his acting debut in Boys (2003). It also marks the fourth time Shankar working with another music composer besides his regular collaborator, A. R. Rahman. Thaman composed and recorded an introduction song on July 14 and 15 in Hyderabad, with the help of 135 musicians. The first single, "Jaragandi", is scheduled to release on Diwali. Release 
In January 2022, Dil Raju expressed his intentions to release the film in January 2023 to coincide with Sankranthi. However, the film is reportedly pushed back to April 2024 to accommodate Raju's Tamil-language production Varisu and also due to production delays. The film will release in Telugu along with dubbed versions in Tamil and Hindi. Notes

References

External links 
 

2020s political drama films
2023 films
2023 drama films
Films directed by S. Shankar
Films scored by Thaman S
Films shot at Ramoji Film City
Films shot in Andhra Pradesh
Films shot in Hyderabad, India
Films shot in Maharashtra
Films shot in Mumbai
Films shot in Rajahmundry
Indian political drama films
Upcoming films
Upcoming Indian films
Upcoming Telugu-language films
Films shot in Punjab, India