Harish Shankar-Varun Tej's Valmiki lands in problem: JAC demands change of its film title

Director Harish Shankar and actor Varun Tej have landed in problems even before kick-starting the shoot of their upcoming movie Valmiki, as National Valmiki JAC have threatened them to change its title.

The buzz on social media is that Valmiki has courted controversy even before it hit the floors. According to the buzz, National Valmiki JAC has raised concerns against Harish Shankar for using the name of Valmiki. The reason for their outrage is that the name of the crime movie matches that of the harbinger-poet who wrote the epic, Ramayana, in 5th century BCE. They have threatened to stall its shoot and theatrical release if the title is not changed.

CinemaPichhi tweeted, "#Valmiki title controversy - National Valmiki JAC raised concerns against @harish2you for using Valmiki name for a crime film. They are demanding for a change in title else threatening to stall the shoot.. Let see if Harish will change the title or go ahead with the same title."

Valmiki had its formal opening ceremony in January and Harish Shankar revealed its title and logo soon after its launch. This movie starring Varun Tej is an official remake of hit Tamil film Jigarthanda, which is about a budding director's endeavours to research about a merciless gangster in order to make a film on gangsterism.

Harish Shankar is known for delivering a blockbuster with Gabbar Singh, which was a remake of Hindi film Dabangg. Many viewers, who are happy with the remake of Jigarthanda, said that another super hit movie is in the making.

A fan named Mani‏ tweeted, "Very Happy to this....!!! #Valmiki by @harish2you. Am Simply Overwhelmed into Happyy n Love. @ThisIsDSP got another Bockbuster Opportunity to work with @IAmVarunTej. Good Luckk 4 #Valmiki .. "

But some filmgoers are sceptic about his capabilities and they asked whether Harish Shankar will do justice to the remake of Jigarthanda. A fan named Swaroop Kumar Gottuparthi‏ tweeted, "Knowing #Harishshankar he will adopt story in his own way ... but don't expect the awesomeness that #chikkaduDorakdu had. #valmiki still might be a hit"

Another fan named Amar tweeted, "Although I think Harish Shankar did a fantabulous job with earlier remake #GabbarSingh, I don't think he can pull off #Jigarthanda remake with Varun Tej and Sri Vishnu kind of talent and screen presence. It will be average fare at best. Maybe that's their target too! #VALMIKI"