When Raj B Shetty emerged from his self-imposed social media hiatus after finishing production work on Toby, which he had not announced at the time, everyone’s question was about the status of his directorial for actress Ramya’s production house, Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye . At the time, Raj had said that he had completed the film and given it to the “producer” and that it was the “producer’s call” as to what to do with it. His personal opinion was that it is a film meant for an OTT release, but in the days that followed, Ramya spoke at a public event about how mainstream streaming platforms were not buying Kannada content.
Then, when Raj began promoting Toby, he was often heard saying that it is a film that he made in response to an unpleasant experience and speculation began that all was not well between him and Ramya. This is now being affirmed, what with the official handle of Ramya’s AppleBox Studios dropping behind-the-scenes videos from the making of Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye and not involving Raj in the process. These videos are being released at a time when Raj is at the peak of promoting Toby, which will be in theatres on August 25.
Last night, for instance, a making video of Raj as Swathi Mutthina Male haniye’s Aniketh was revealed, and netizens have been quick to ask the actress-producer to refrain from piggy-banking on Toby. “Ramya is on her toes to destroy Toby so she’s releasing contents of this film nearing Toby’s release,” wrote one netizen, while another chimed in, “Obba director ondh kathe jothe badkirtane avnige heldene contents bitre adu director mado avamana”. Another comment read, “Idu Ivaga bedvagittu,, Toby release time alli e movie dhu yav update kuda akbedi, after Toby ivnella bidi @divyaspandana”, with one user requesting, “Plz Toby Relese Agovergu updates kodbedi”.
