There have been reports doing rounds that filmmaker B Unnikrishnan would soon be directing a film with Dileep in the lead. However, the director has denied it as rumors while admitting that he was in talks with the star in 2013 for a project which did not materialise.
Only days ago Unnikrishnan, also the general secretary of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA), said that Dileep, a rape accused, will not be reinstated in the organisation. They stand by the survivor who is also an actor, Unnikrishnan had said then. The question came when Dileep was reinstated in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, AMMA.
In an interview published on Manorama Online, the director has been quoted as saying, "I discussed a project with Dileep in 2013. A producer had come forward to do a film with both of us, and also gave an advance payment to Dileep and me. The advance given to me was for a script that I had completed. We agreed to do the movie after Fraud which starred Mohanlal in the lead was done. Fraud was released in 2014. The producer contacted Dileep two months after that. But the actor was committed to two other films.”
Elaborating further on what happened, Unnikrishnan revealed he discussed the same script with Mohanlal with some minor changes but the star refused stating that Dileep would be more suitable for it. On further developments, he went on to add, “I got busy with a theatre project in 2015-16. But I was also working on the script of the Mohanlal movie. At the same time, the same old producer approached me with the Dileep project. I told him I would do it after completing the Mohanlal starrer. The producer then began work on the film with the support of another corporate, and discussed the project with Dileep again.”
Confirming that he is not working with Dileep in the near future, the director pointed out that he will soon be teaming up with Mohanlal for a film and then go on to direct a Telugu film. He is also in the process of directing a small budget film.
(Content provided by Digital Native)