It was earlier reported that Anushka Shetty will be playing the lead role in the Gunasekhar directorial Shakuntalam. However, we now hear that Pooja Hegde will be playing the role instead of Anushka. Touted to be a romantic tale, Shakuntalam will be bankrolled by Neelima Guna. The technical crew for the film includes Mani Sharma for music.
Gunasekhar last directed and wrote Rudhramadevi in 2015, which had Anushka Shetty in the titular role. Rudhramadevi was a 3D biograpical action film based on the life of Rudrama Devi, a ruler of the Kakatiya dynasty in the Deccan. The film brought the powerful queen to the mainstream.
The film also featured Allu Arjun, Rana Daggubati, Krishnam Raju, Prakash Raj, Suman, Nithya Menen, Adithya, and Catherine Tresa. Maestro Ilayaraja had composed the music for this flick, with Ajayan Vincent and Sreekar Prasad roped in for cinematography and editing, respectively.
Rudhramadevi went on to win numerous awards. Among them was the prestigious Nandi Awards instituted by the Andhra Pradesh government; Allu Arjun won the Best Character Actor and Sowmya Sharma Best Female Dubbing Artist. The Filmfare Awards South for Best Actress – Telugu was presented to Anushka Shetty, and Best Supporting Actor – Telugu to Allu Arjun.
Gunasekhar had earlier announced another historical film Hiranyakashyap, which is in the making. Reports from earlier this year revealed that Rana will be joining the sets of this film as the titular character. The prep work is on and grand sets were erected at the Rama Naidu Cine Village in Hyderabad for the film, which is based on the legend of the Asura king Hiranyakashyapa. Sources say that Rs 40 crore has been earmarked for this particular set alone, making it the costliest ever in the Telugu film industry, even beating the magnum opus Baahubali. The shooting of this film was to commence in summer this year, but had to be postponed due to the COVID – 19-induced lockdown.
Pooja Hegde’s last film to hit the marquee was Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, directed by Trivikram Srinivas and bankrolled jointly by Allu Aravind and S Radha Krishna under the banners Geetha Arts and Haarika & Hassine Creations respectively. Pooja shared the screen with Allu Arjun in this entertainer. The technical crew of this film included S Thaman for music, PS Vinod for cinematography and Naveen Nooli for editing.
Pooja is currently busy playing the female lead in the upcoming Prabhas starrer Radhe Shyam, directed and written by Radha Krishna Kumar. Prabhas recently unveiled Pooja’s first look in the film. In the poster, she was seen sporting a retro look in a green dress and long jacket. The name of her character is Prerna.
Radhe Shyam is bankrolled by Vamsi Krishna Reddy, Pramod Uppalapati, Praseedha Uppalapati and Bhushan Kumar under the banners UV Creations and T-Series. The technical crew of this film includes Manoj Paramahamsa to crank the camera with Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao handling the edits. Shooting was halted due to the outbreak of the pandemic; however, it was recently resumed in Hyderabad.
(Content provided by Digital Native)
Watch Pooja Hegde in Ala Vaikuntapuramuloo here :