RC15

In February 2021, it was announced that Shankar and Ram Charan were collaborating for a film produced by Dil Raju and Sirish.[7] The film marks Shankar's directorial debut in Telugu cinema.[8] The 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.[9] In January 2022, in an interview with Cinema Vikatan, filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj revealed that he wrote the film's original story with Shankar writing the screenplay.[10] Charan reportedly plays a dual role as a father and son.[11]

The film was then formally launched on 8 September 2021 in Hyderabad with a traditional pooja ceremony attended by Ranveer Singh, Chiranjeevi, and S. S. Rajamouli.[12] Shankar gave an estimated cost of ₹200 crore for the film's production. Later, on the request of the producer, the budget was reportedly cut down to ₹170 crore.[2]

In July 2021 it was announced that Kiara Advani was signed on to be the lead actress.[13] In September 2021, Anjali, Sunil, Srikanth, Jayaram, and Naveen Chandra were all confirmed to be a part of the film.[5] In February 2022, S. J. Suryah was approached for a crucial role.[14]

The film was launched on 8 September 2021 at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] The Times of India reported that nearly ₹23 crore was spent on the song.[18] During the schedule, the team has also shot a 7-minute action sequence at a cost of ₹7 crore. Anbariv and others were hired to design these action sequences in the film.[19]

The third schedule for the film commenced in February 2022.[20] Planned for 10 days, the shoot would take place in Andhra Pradesh at Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Kovvur and other nearby places of West Godavari and East Godavari districts.[21][22] In April 2022, Charan and Advani began a 20-day schedule at Amritsar to shoot college portions, following which the production is planned to move to Visakhapatnam.[23][24]