A few months ago, rumours made headlines that Vijay Devarakonda, who rose to fame with the phenomenal success of Arjun Reddy, has signed a Tamil film with Mani Ratnam. While the authenticity of this report still remains a mystery, it has been confirmed that he has signed his first Tamil project with director Anand Shankar.
The yet-untitled project will be bankrolled by Studio Green, the company behind successful films such as the Singam franchise, Komban and Suriya’s upcoming release Thaana Serntha Kootam. An official announcement regarding the project was made on Saturday via a poster.
Not much is known about the genre of the film. However, it has been learnt from reliable sources that it will go on the floors early next year. The cast and crew are yet to be finalised. Post Irumugan, Anand Shankar was planning on foraying into Telugu industry, and is rumoured to have even explored a few opportunities. When things didn’t look positive, he approached producer Gnanavel Raja, who had been planning to work with him since the release of his first film Arima Nambi, an action-thriller which featured Vikram Prabhu and Priya Anand in the lead.
Meanwhile, the Tamil remake of Arjun Reddy is shaping up well. Titled Varma, the film marks the debut of Vikram’s son Dhruv, who will reprise Devarakonda’s role. The project will be produced by E4 Entertainment, producers of films such as Ezra and Godha. In a Facebook post, producer Mukesh Mehta had thanked Vikram for having faith in them and letting them launch his son.
On several occasions, Vikram had hinted that his son will eventually enter the industry. However, even he wasn’t sure whether he’d be interested in acting or direction.
Last year, Dhruv directed a short film called Goodnight Charlie, and it was about child abuse within a family. When the film came out, many assumed that he has directorial dreams and would enter the industry as a director. It’s surprising that he has decided to don the greasepaint and it won’t be an easy debut, considering the high expectations people will have on the remake, thanks to the popularity of the character Arjun Reddy, a contemporary take on Devdas, and it portrayed love and suffering in its most raw and honest form, winning over audiences across all classes.
(Content provided by Digital Native)