Aishwarya Rai, Mahesh Babu, Nagarjuna Film Called Off; Maniratnam to Direct Ram Charan-Allu Arjun?

There were a lot of buzz doing the rounds on Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's comeback film. It was being speculated that the bollywood beauty will return to the silver screen in Maniratnam's Tamil-Telugu bilingual project, touted to be a psy thriller. 

There were also reports that the Telugu superstars Mahesh Babu and Nagarjuna will don pivotal roles in the big budget project. In an interview, actress Suhasini Maniratnam confirmed the news and she also said that the film's shooting will commence in June.

However, latest reports suggest that the film has been dropped. In one of the media interactions, actor Nagarjuna has confirmed that the Maniratnam project is cancelled. "Maniratnam has narrated a story to me and Mahesh Babu. But after some days, he called me and said that the project is cancelled," Nagarjuna was quoted as saying by Indiaglitz.

It is not clear as to why the project has been called off, though date issues are being speculated as the reason behind the cancellation.

Mahesh Babu is currently busy with Sreenu Vaitla's "Aagadu" and after completing the film, he will move on to his next project with director Koratala Siva of "Mirchi" fame. On the other hand, Nagarjuna is gearing up for the release of "Manam" and is all set to star in a new project along with Jr NTR. Aishwarya Rai is also reportedly making her comeback through the Hindi film titled "Jazbaa," to be directed by Sanjay Gupta.

Date issues might have played a major role in the Maniratnam project getting dropped, but there is no official confirmation on the same.

Even as the fate of the project is not clear, there is another buzz doing the rounds in the Telugu film industry. Apparently, Maniratnam flew to Hyderabad and met Chiranjeevi to discuss about a project. It is being rumoured that the "Raavanan" director had narrated a story line and wanted to cast Mega heroes Allu Arjun and Ram Charan in the lead roles. But, there is no official word about this project as well.

Maniratnam has made several classics in Tamil and Hindi including "Mouna Ragam", "Roja", "Bombay" and "Dil Se." The director had done only one straight Telugu film – "Geethanjali" – with Nagarjuna in the lead. After two decades, the director was all set to make his comeback to the industry with the Mahesh-Nagarjuna project, much to the delight of his fans. 

The news that the film is getting shelved might upset the director's fans, but the latest buzz about the Ram Charan-Allu Arjun project might just bring some cheers for them.