In a never before seen development in Tamil cinema, the producers of Varma, the Tamil remake of Tollywood blockbuster Arjun Reddy, have announced that they are scrapping the entire film and will be reshooting it with another director. E4 entertainment had engaged national award winning filmmaker Bala for the film.
The film which marks the debut of Dhruv Vikram, son of ace actor Vikram, was apparently given to Bala to direct, besides making it in his home banner B Studios on a first copy basis.
The film was slated to release on Valnetine's Day, but the producers have said they are not happy with the end product and due to creative differences they will be starting afresh with a new set of cast and crew, except for Dhruv who will continue to be the hero.
In statement issued to the press, E4 Entertainment, who had bought the remake rights of Vijay Devarakonda-Shalini Pandey starrer, said, “We engaged Bala's B Studios to recreate the Tamil version of Arjun Reddy, titled as Varma on a first copy basis on the insistence of the director. We are not all happy with the final version handed over to us and due to various creative and other differences we have decided not to release this version. Instead, we have resolved to shoot the film staying true to the soul of the original retaining Dhruv as the lead protagonist. Though it is costing us heavily, our love for wanting to see this cult movie in Tamil has not lessened in any manner.”
They said the film by the new team would hit the marquee in June 2019.
An inside source says that Megha Chowdhury, who was roped in as the heroine, will also be replaced by a newcomer. “The original film Arjun Reddy had a running time of 3 hours 6 minutes. Despite its massive length, T’town audiences loved the movie and made it a huge it. But Bala sir has reportedly chopped many scenes and made Varma run for less than 2 hours. As a result, the core essence of the original was totally lost”, added the source.
