The biggest announcement from the film industry so far is the news that Vikram will be playing Karna in the movie titled Mahavir Karna, which will be directed by RS Vimal. Earlier, Prithviraj was in the fray to play the role but it finally went to Vikram following Prithviraj’s prior commitments.

On roping in one of the talented stars to play Karna, director RS Vimal said that Vikram turned down the offer at first as he was doubtful if he would fit into the character but eventually was convinced to take up the role.

The director said that when he got in touch with Vikram offering him the role, he wanted to know how different the Karnan role would be from those played by Sivaji Ganesan in the Tamil movie Karnan and by NT Rama Rao in the Telugu film Daana Veera Soora Karna. So, the director had a tough time convincing the star that he made a thorough research for about three years to carve out the role. Finally, Vikram was convinced and decided to hop onboard.

RS Vimal has been quoted by the Times of India as saying, “Prithviraj is busy with his directorial Lucifer and has other acting commitments for the next two years. By mid 2017, we had decided to scale up the project to an international level and had apprised Prithviraj of roping in Vikram. He was completely fine with it.” He went on to add, “Once he heard the script narration and understood the in-depth research for it, he was convinced. Also, we will be using cutting edge technology to recreate this period.”

To be made in Hindi on a budget of Rs. 300 crores, the film will be released in all major Indian languages, said the director. He added that a leading Hollywood star would be roped in to play Bhim in the movie.