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Sara Ali Khan and Ram Charan to star in Mani Ratnam's next?

Mani's attempt to adapt Amarar Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan with a huge star cast, including Ilayathalapathy Vijay drew a blank.

Right from big names like Vijay Sethupathi, Fahadh Faasil, Ram Charan, to upcoming stars like Sara Ali Khan, the Kaatru Veliyidai director’s next few offerings promise to be special.

Ram CharanRam Charan

The speculation regarding Mani Ratnam’s upcoming projects are increasing with each passing day. Since Kaatru Veliyidai hardly set the box-office on fire, the filmmaker would naturally want to respond with a massive project.

Mani RatnamMani Ratnam

Earlier, it was said that Madhavan and Fahadh Faasil would star in the ace director’s next with Kaatru Veliyidai’s heroine Aditi Rao Hydari in one of the lead roles.

Aditi RaoAditi Rao

We now learn that the Kadal director is working on another project, which is in the nascent stage. It is for this project that Telugu star Ram Charan might be roped in. The other fascinating news is that Saif Ali Khan’s daughter might make her acting debut in south with the film.

“Sara might play the lead role, but it has not been confirmed yet. Only initial talks have taken place. The project might be a Telugu-Hindi bilingual. However, it is not sure which of the two projects will take off first,” the source revealed.

Vijay SethupathiVijay Sethupathi

Earlier, Mani’s attempt to adapt Amarar Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan with a huge star cast, including Ilayathalapathy Vijay drew a blank. Writer Jeyamohan previously revealed that the lack of permission to shoot inside the temples of TN was one of the main reasons for the makers to drop the film, since it would cost an enormous amount of money to raise such sets.

However, it seems like Mani still has plans to bring the epic literature to life. We hear that the scratch work for the project is still going on, and many research work is still being carried out.

Fahadh FaasilFahadh Faasil

One more name to be associated with the director is Vijay Sethupathi, who is currently basking in Vikram Vedha’s success. It is learnt that the director has approached Sethupathi for a new movie and initiated talks. Sources even say that Mani has narrated the one-liner of the script to him. Though Sethupathi’s call sheet is full for the next two years, the actor is keen to work with the former and wants to adjust his dates for him. After all, who wouldn’t want to work with the renowned maverick filmmaker?

When DC contacted Mani’s office, an insider confirmed that the actor had met Mani recently and listened to a script. The source also said that Mani has frozen a script to make a film only in Tamil. Seems like something big is always cooking at Mani’s office!

(With inputs from Anupama Subramanian)

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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