Samantha Akkineni turns down Bollywood remake of ‘U Turn’

Reports are that Samantha Akkineni has turned down the offer to star in the Hindi remake of U Turn. The actor played the lead role in the Telugu and Tamil version of this hit movie, which was itself a remake of the Kannada blockbuster of the same name. The Telugu version also received critical acclaim and was a commercial success as well. Following this, the remake rights were lapped up. The makers of the Hindi remake were keen on having Samantha reprise the role but she has turned it down. According to a latest development, Taapsee Pannu has been approached for the role and she may sign on the dotted lines.

Last seen in Game Over a bilingual Tamil and Telugu drama thriller film that was written and directed by Ashwin Saravanan, Taapsee currently has the Bollywood film Tadka in the post-production mode. Directed by Shriya Saran, the film has a bevy of stars in the cast including Nana Patekar, Shriya Saran, Ali Fazal and Taapsee Pannu.

Meanwhile, Samantha is expecting the release of the Telugu remake of 96. Samantha plays the female lead in the remake of this Tamil film and we hear that the shooting has been wrapped up. The film is said to currently be in post-production stages. The film is directed by C Prem Kumar, who had directed the original. It stars Sharwanand and Samantha as the lead pair. Ace producer 'Dil' Raju is bankrolling the venture under his banner Sri Venkateswara Creations. Samantha is also gearing up for her debut in the digital platform. She will be debuting with Amazon Prime Video's The Family Man Season 2 directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK.

U Turn, a Kannada film directed by Pawan Kumar, hit the marquee in 2016 and turned out to be the biggest blockbuster. A mystery thriller, U Turn had Shraddha Srinath, Radhika Chetan, Dileep Raj and Roger Narayan in the star cast. Written and directed by Pawan Kumar, U Turn was bankrolled by him under his banner Pawan Kumar Studios on a budget of Rs 2.5 crores. Pawan Wadeyar then went on to remake U Turn, which was a heroine-centric film in Tamil and Telugu. The film had Samantha, Adhi Pinisetty and Rahul Ravindran in the lead roles. The film is about the mysterious death of motorists who break traffic rule at a particular flyover and a young journo who goes to investigate the matter to nab the culprit along with a police inspector.

(Content provided by Digital Native)