Development In September 2015, producer
D. V. V. Danayya had bought the remake rights of
Thani Oruvan (2015), for a sum of , and announced that either
Mahesh Babu or
Ram Charan will play the lead role, with the latter being finalized, as Charan was impressed about the script. While,
Surender Reddy,
Vamshi Paidipally,
Mohan Raja, the director of the original film, were supposed to helm the remake, Surender was chosen as the film's director. In an interview with,
The Times of India, Surender revealed that, it took him three months to complete the script, with two months for adapting the script in Telugu, and another month for the final draft being prepared. Following the poor performance of Charan's
Bruce Lee: The Fighter, Danayya stepped out of producing the venture, and subsequently
Allu Aravind, bankrolled the project under the home studio
Geetha Arts, collaborating with charan for the second time after
Magadheera (2009). The film was tentatively titled as
Rakshak, before the title
Dhruva was announced. For his role in the film Ram Charan, had undergone rigorous training with an array of fitness experts. Singer
Vedala Hemachandra provided voiceover for Arvind Swamy.
Casting Ajith Kumar and
R. Madhavan were both offered to play Swamy's role from the original, however, they both declined.
Rajasekhar had also been approached for the role, but also declined.
Arvind Swamy was later chosen to reprise his role from the original film. Sources claimed that, Swamy had charged as remuneration.
Shruti Haasan, was cast as the female lead, reprising
Nayanthara's role, collaborating with Charan after
Yevadu (2014), however due to schedule conflicts, she opted out of the project and was replaced by
Rakul Preet Singh.
Navdeep was cast as one of Charan's friends.
Hiphop Tamizha, who composed for the original film, were signed to compose the soundtrack for the film.
Aseem Mishra, who worked in
Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), was initially chosen as the film's cinematographer, but due to his inavailability, was replaced by
P. S. Vinod.
Naveen Nooli, Rajeevan and Nagendra were chosen as the editor, production designer and art director respectively. The stunt sequences were choreographed by
Ravi Varma.
Bosco-Caesar, who previously worked for Charan in
Orange (2010), choreographed the song sequences.
Filming The film was scheduled to be launched on 16 January 2016, however, the launch was tentatively delayed to 10 February 2016. The film was launched at the office of the production house Geetha Arts on 18 February 2016, and it was announced that the regular shooting of the film would commence on 22 February 2016. However, the principal photography was commenced without Ram Charan, and it was announced that he would join the shooting from 1 March 2016. As the second schedule of the film was scheduled to be held on 10 March, Ram Charan undergone image makeover and look tests for the film, and was reported to join the sets from 14 March 2016. On 11 May 2016, the makers planned for a shooting schedule in
Jammu and Kashmir, to film an important sequence and a song, and it also reported that Ram Charan may join the schedule. Later Ram Charan and Rakul Preet moved to Kashmir, for its second schedule, which was completed on 29 June, Following the second schedule, the team moved to
Hyderabad, in July 2016 to shoot important sequences, and later planned to shoot the songs in August. An exclusive making video of the film was released, in which Ram Charan was performing risky stunts, all by himself, without using any body doubles. In August 2016, the makers revealed that, the talkie portion of the film has been completed, and later planned to shoot two songs, along with the completion of post-production works. A special set for the introduction song of the film was erected on a huge scale. For the song shoot, Ram Charan reportedly got training himself under
Sultan and
Dangal fame
bodybuilder Rakesh Udiyar. The song shoot was completed on late October. Later, Aravind Swamy completed his portions for Dhruva. The song "Pareshanura" was shot at the
Krabi Islands in
Thailand, which featured Ram Charan and Rakul Preet Singh. The song "Neethoney Dance" was filmed at a huge set erected at
Annapurna Studios, which was choreographed by Bosco-Caesar duo. Following the song shoot, the principal photography was wrapped up on 11 November 2016. == Music ==