After winning hearts in the coming-of-age love story Premam, dancer-turned-actor Sai Pallavi, who made her debut in the film with an endearing portrayal of Malar, is likely to be cast as the female lead in Mani Ratnam’s next yet-to-be-titled project.
The charming girl-next-door Sai Pallavi from Premam, participated in a screen test organised last month at Mani Ratnam’s office in Chennai as per a reliable source. “Mani Ratnam was quite convinced with the outcome of screen test. Now, Sai Pallavi’s dates are being worked out,” adds the source.
Following the success of Ok Kanmani at the ticket window, Mani Ratnam started working on a bi-lingual project with Karthi and Dulquer Salmaan in the lead roles. However, it was put on the backburner with various reports citing date issues with Dulquer Salmaan as the central reason for the project being shelved.
“The plotline of Mani Ratnam’s project with Dulquer and Karthi was substantially similar to the critically acclaimed Hindi hit Badlapur which released last year. Though close associates of Mani advised him to go on with the film with his own version of writing, the Badlapur connect had put him in a spot of bother and after media revealed the plot, he made a decision to defer the project,” reveals our source.
Apparently, Mani had started writing a fresh script which also stars Karthi in the lead role. Sai Pallavi is expected to make her Tamil debut in this notable project by pairing opposite Karthi.
Karthi has recently wrapped up his Tamil-Telugu bi-lingual Thozha, which is an official remake of the award-winning French drama The Intouchables, with Nagarjuna Akkineni and Tamannah Bhatia. He is currently busy with the supernatural thriller Kashmora, which also co-stars Nayanthara and Sri Divya.
Mani Ratnam is planning to set the ball rolling from the first week of June after Karthi completes Kashmora. Produced by Madras Talkies, this yet-untitled project will have music by AR Rahman. Popular cinematographer Ravi Varman, who earned raves for his stellar camerawork in Tamasha and Barfi!, will collaborate with Mani Ratnam for the first time in this movie.
(Karthik Kumar is an independent film critic and journalist. He actively follows and writes on popular South Indian cinema and covers independent films too.)
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