India, Oct. 17 -- It took actor Raanna nearly 3 years to go from being a one-film hero to his sophomore project. After his debut, Ek Love Ya, Raanna took a while to find a script that he really liked, but the project failed to take off, delaying his return to the screen. Everything eventually fell in place when filmmaker Tharun Sudhir decided to back the vision of debutant director Punit Rangaswamy with Raanna in the lead.

Called Elumale , the film released in theatres on September 5, amid a very positive vibe based on the trailer and that it is a Tharun Sudhir film. Yet despite largely good reviews, the thriller with a love story at its core, failed to thrive at the box office. Tharun's long-term association with Zee Network as judge on...