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'Maanaadu' resumes shoot in Pondicherry, Simbu joins the sets

Written by : Digital Native

There’s finally some good news on Venkat Prabhu’s Maanaadu, which has resumed its third schedule on Monday in Pondicherry. Simbu took to Twitter to announce that he’s joining the sets in Pondicherry and that he plays a character called Abdul Khaaliq.

After being announced nearly two years ago, the film went on the floors earlier this year in February. Maanaadu, a political thriller, marks the first-time collaboration of actor Simbu and filmmaker Venkat Prabhu. The project, after being announced with much fanfare in 2018, was shelved a few months ago after fallout between Simbu and producer Suresh Kamatchi.

The project was supposed to go on the floors last July after being deferred multiple times. When Simbu couldn’t take out time as promised, Suresh had to go ahead and drop the idea of making the film with him.

Director Venkat Prabhu, soon after the project was dropped, took to Twitter to share a heartfelt post. “It’s very unfortunate that I couldn’t work with my brother Simbu in Manaadu. Everything is time bound. Considering the amount of emotional and financial pressure that the producer is going through, I have to respect the decision taken by the producer. Thanks for all the love,” Prabhu tweeted.

After multiple delays, the project is now back on track and the team hopes to wrap it up within the next three months. While Kalyani Priyadarshan plays the leading lady, the film also stars Bharathiraja, SJ Suryah, Karunakaran, Premgi Amaren and Daniel Anne Pope. Yuvan Shankar Raja has been roped in to compose music. The rest of the cast and crew will be announced soon.

Meanwhile, Simbu recently completed shooting for Suseenthiran’s upcoming rural drama Eeswaran. The makers are yet to reveal the rest of the cast and crew. Known for making projects at breakneck speed, Suseenthiran is said to have completed a major portion of the film in record time of just 25 days. Best known for helming films such as Naan Mahan Alla and Pandinaadu, Suseenthiran's last film was Champion.

Simbu took to his Twitter page and announced that the shooting process of the film was wrapped up and that the film’s teaser will be released for Deepavali 2020. Sharing the news, Simbu thanked the cast and crew of the film who helped with the shooting process. He wrote, “#ShootCompleted #EeswaranTeaserForDiwali I heartfully thank each and every one of my team #Eeswaran for this beautiful journey! & Special thanks to all my fans for all the love and support”.

Recently, a video of a scene from the movie in which Simbu was seen holding a King Cobra along with Bala Saravanan was doing the rounds on social media. Following this, an activist had filed a complaint that Simbu was holding a real cobra, which is against the law. The law forbids using animals in movies as they are most likely to be drugged or defanged. An ex-member of the Performing Animals Sub-committee, the complainant has also lodged complaints with the forest department and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI). The film's production house later put out a clarification that the cobra seen in the poster was not real. 

(Content provided by Digital Native)

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