Recently, there were reports that Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai will be making her comeback to the big screen through Mani Ratnam's film.
It was also reported that Telugu actors Mahesh Babu and Nagarjuna will be doing the lead roles in the film, touted to be a big budget action thriller flick.
But, latest buzz doing the rounds is that Aishwarya Rai has been replaced by Asin in the film. It is being said that Asin will play one of the female leads, while Shruti Haasan will be the other heroine. The "D Day" actress will reportedly be paired opposite Mahesh Babu.
If Asin is indeed part of the project, it will be her first time association with the popular director, who has several critically-acclaimed and commercially successful films to his credit. Similarly, Mahesh Babu and Shruti Haasan will be teaming up with the director for the first time in their film career.
While all these are just speculations, an official announcement from the makers is still awaited.
The pre-production work of the film is on in full swing. The Mani Ratnam directorial will be a direct Telugu film and it will be dubbed in Tamil and Hindi, according to reports. If the buzz turns out to be true, then it will mark the return of Mani Ratnam to the Telugu film industry after 25 years.
The film's shooting is expected to kick off in second half of the year in Hyderabad.
Music composer AR Rahman, cinematographer Ravi Varman and editor Sreekar Prasad are said to have been roped for the project. Details about other cast and crew members of the film are not yet known.
Vijayanthi Movies, popular production house in south India, will reportedly produce the film along with Madras Talkies banner.
