Madhavan replaces Simbu in Gautham Menon's Ondraga

Director Gautham Vasudev Menon has roped in R Madhavan for his upcoming movie Ondraga after Simbu aka Silambarasan opted out. Ondraga is a sequel to Gautham Menon-Simbu's 2010 romantic drama Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya.

The movie will bring together Gautham Menon and Madhavan after 15 years.

Vinnaithandi Varuvaya narrates the story of an assistant director, Karthik, who falls in love with Jessie. But Jessie is forced into marrying someone as her family doesn't accept Karthik. The movie was well received by the audience and went on to become a blockbuster. The chemistry between lead pair Simbu and Trisha struck a chord with the moviegoers.

The director has now decided to make a sequel to it.

As per recent reports, Simbu was supposed to reprise the role of Karthik in Ondraga as Gautham Menon planned to recast him. Tovino Thomas and Puneeth Rajkumar are reportedly roped in to play other important roles. The makers are currently in talks with Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia to play female leads in the movie.

The latest update is that Simbu walked out of the multi-starrer project. Reports suggest that the actor is not comfortable sharing screen space with other actors. Therefore, Gautham Menon selected Madhavan to play Karthik. 

In an interview, Gautham Menon revealed that Ondraga will be an emotional ride. He plans to shoot the maximum portion of the film in the US.

"After his debut film Jessie, Karthik has become a successful filmmaker, he scored four hits in eight years but is yet to find his soulmate," he told Film Companion.

"Karthik decides to attend a friend's wedding where he meets his three friends from Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh who are not into the film business. One friend is a software professional and another one is a hotelier. The film will be an emotional ride among the four friends, who decide to spend time together on a road trip", Menon said.

Currently, Gautham Menon is working on two big-ticket projects — Dhruva Natchathiram starring Vikram and Enai Noki Paayum Thota starring Dhanush. After wrapping them up, he is likely to take up Ondraga.