Megastar Chiranjeevi, who was last seen on screen in the period epic Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, has two remake projects in his kitty. While the star recently confirmed that he will star in the Telugu remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Lucifer, to be directed by Saaho fame Sujeeth, the latest update is that Chiranjeevi is pausing work on the project to shoot the Telugu remake of Ajith’s Vedalam first.
As per the latest development, Meher Ramesh has been roped in to direct the Vedalam remake. An official announcement about the project can be expected to be made on Chiranjeevi’s birthday on August 22. Apparently, Chiranjeevi has put the Lucifer remake on the backburner because he wasn’t too happy with the changes that were made to the script to suit Telugu sensibilities.
Anil Sunkara’s AK Entertainments will bankroll the Vedalam remake. Incidentally, it was initially planned to be made with Pawan Kalyan a couple of years ago. Eventually, Pawan went on to star in the Telugu remake of Ajith’s Veeram, titled Katamarayudu, directed by Kishore Kumar Pardasani alias Dolly.
Also, since Sujeeth got married recently, Chiranjeevi felt that he would need time off from work to spend time with his family. It is believed that he has postponed the project to next year. In the interim, Sujeeth will rework on the script and make necessary changes to make it suitable for Telugu audiences.
Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi will be next seen in Acharya, in which he’s rumoured to be playing dual roles. Koratala Siva is directing the film, which will hit the screens next year.
Acharya, as per reports, will be about a middle-aged Naxalite-turned-social-reformer who launches a fight against the Endowments Department over misappropriation and embezzlement of temple funds and donations. The film is being bankrolled jointly by Ram Charan under his banner Konidela Production Company in association with Niranjan Reddy’s Matinee Entertainment.
Acharya marks the first-time collaboration of Chiranjeevi and Koratala Siva, best known for helming films such as Mirchi, Srimanthudu, Bharat Ane Nenu and Janatha Garage. The film was originally supposed to mark Trisha’s return to Telugu filmdom after many years. However, she opted out of the project due to creative differences.
In March, Trisha took to Twitter to reveal that she’s opting out of the project. She wrote: “Sometimes things turn out to be different from what was initially said and discussed. Due to creative differences, I have chosen not to be part of Chiranjeevi sir’s film. Wishing the team well. To my lovely Telugu audiences - hope to see you soon in an exciting project.” The tweet seems to have been deleted now.
Kajal Aggarwal was brought in as Trisha’s replacement. However, recent reports indicate that even she has opted out of the project to keep herself available for her Hindi project with John Abraham.
(Content provided by Digital Native)