The groundwork for Mahesh Babu’s upcoming film with director Anil Ravipudi is currently on with the latter roping in actors for pivotal roles. According to reports, the director was in talks with the Kannada star Upendra to play the main antagonist in the film but he declined the offer citing his political commitments. Upendra had launched his political party, Prajakeeya Party and is keen on contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"Upendra was offered the antagonist's role in Mahesh's film, but he turned down the proposal owing to his political commitments. He wants to put his acting career on hold to focus on politics and is preparing to contest in the upcoming elections as part of his Prajaakeeya party,” sources told Cinema Express.
We also hear that Anil Ravipudi had first approached Sai Pallavi to play the female lead in this film but the actor turned down the offer and it eventually went to Rashmika Mandanna. Sources say that veteran actor Vijay Shanti is being approached for a pivotal role in this Mahesh Babu starrer but she is yet to sign on the dotted lines.
The shooting of the untitled film is likely to begin in May this year and the prep work for it is already on. Dil Raju and Anil Sunkara will be producing the film under the banner of Sri Venkateswara Creations and 14 Reels Entertainment, respectively. Official announcement pertaining to the rest of the star cast and crew are expected to be out soon.
In the meantime, Mahesh Babu’s fans are awaiting the release of Maharshi, scheduled for release in April. Directed by Vamsi Paidapally, it is a high budget project with a major portion of it being shot in the United States. The film is about three friends played by Mahesh Babu, Allari Naresh and Pooja Hegde.
Maharshi is being produced jointly by Dil Raju, C. Ashwini Dutt and Prasad V. Potluri under the banners Sri Venkateswara Creations, Vyjayanthi Movies and PVP Cinema. The technical crew of this film includes Devi Sri Prasad as its music composer, K. U. Mohanan as the cinematographer and Praveen KL as the editor.
(Content provided by Digital Native)