Days after the reshoot of the Tamil remake of Arjun Reddy was announced, October actress Banita Sandhu has been named as the movie’s female lead. Sandhu will share the screen with Dhruv Vikram, the producers of Varmaa announced on Saturday.
The original Telugu saga about heartbreak and redemption, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga in 2017, starred Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandy and was a breakout hit. It is also being remade in Hindi as Kabir Singh with Shahid Kapoor in the lead role.
“Banita Sandhu and Dhruv Vikram to romance in the new Tamil version of Arjun Reddy,” producer E4 Entertainment said in a Tweet. Varmaa was originally directed by award-winning director Bala and is the debut of Dhruv Vikram, the son of Tamil movie star Vikram. The young actor was cast alongside Megha Chowdhury.
On February 7, a week before the scheduled release, the producers announced that since they were unhappy with Bala’s work, they would be remaking Varmaa with a new director and co-star. “We are not at all happy with the final version handed over to us...we have decided not to release this version,” the producers said in a statement. The name of Bala’s replacement has not been announced. The new version is eyeing a June release.
Bala, whose credits include Sethu, Pithamagan and Naachiyaar, claimed that it was his decision to exit the project. “In order to safeguard creative freedom, it was my own decision to relieve myself from this project,” Bala said. “Considering Dhruv Vikram’s future, I would like to end this here,” he said in a statement. Bala has directed Vikram in two of his best-known films, Sethu and Pithamagan.
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