Shiv Thakare's first film role isn't a soft landing. Bollywood Hungama reports that the reality television star, who won Bigg Boss Marathi 2 and later turned up on Bigg Boss 16, Khatron Ke Khiladi 13 and Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 11, will make his acting debut in the Marathi film Raktneeti.

He's not playing a cameo or a comic sidekick. Thakare takes on a college student who gets pulled into crime after what the makers describe as a devastating turn of events, and from there the character moves into politics, dragged through betrayal, revenge and the kind of power games that make for a good trailer cut. Bollywood Hungama notes the arc carries shades of Vivek Oberoi's role in Ram Gopal Varma's 2010 film Rakta Charitra, though the makers are positioning Raktneeti as its own story with its own setting.

That RGV connection isn't incidental. Raktneeti marks the Marathi directorial debut of Prradip Khairwar, who has spent close to two decades working in and around Varma's camp. His credits as an associate include Rakta Charitra itself, along with Killing Veerappan, The Attacks of 26/11 and Sarkar 3. As a director in his own right, Khairwar has made the 2024 film Aayushmati Geeta Matric Pass and a run of short films, Gudgudi, Blind Love and Haircut, and has also directed music videos for T-Series.

Who's writing it, and when it shoots

The screenplay comes from Prashant Pandey, who wrote Rakta Charitra as well, so the crime-and-politics DNA of that 2010 film is baked into the project from more than one direction. Khairwar and Shefali Singh Rajput are producing under their banner Good Idea Films.

Right now the script and screenplay are still being worked on, and Bollywood Hungama says the plan is to take Raktneeti on floors sometime around November-December 2026. That's a decent runway, and it gives Thakare time to prep for a role that sounds nothing like the strategic reality-show persona he's built his career on.

The film was announced at Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai, which is the standard ritual for Marathi productions looking to signal seriousness before a single frame is shot. No cast beyond Thakare has been named yet, and there's no word on a release window since the shoot itself hasn't started.

For Thakare, the stakes are obvious. Reality television has made him a recognisable face across three separate shows, but the jump to a lead role in a dark, politically charged crime drama is a different kind of test altogether. Whether Raktneeti gives him the material to pass it depends on a script that, for now, is still being written.