Banita Sandhu, who made her debut with Shoojit Sircar’s October last year, has been roped in for Arjun Reddy’s Tamil remake Varmaa. She will essay Shalini Pandey’s role from the original.

Talking to Times or India, Banita said: “I was approached for a few south and Hindi movies earlier, too. It’s just that I was waiting for the right film and when this offer came, I couldn’t say ‘no’. As far as this project is concerned, the production team expressed their interest to cast me. I have seen Arjun Reddy; I hope our film will be as interesting as the original version and meet the expectations. We haven’t finalised the dates for shooting.”

Incidentally, Varmaa also marks the debut of actor Vikram’s son Dhruv, who will reprise Vijay Devarakonda’s role from the original. National award-winning filmmaker Bala, known for helming projects such as Sethu and Pithamagan, had been roped in initially to direct the remake.

With the film scheduled for release in March, its makers last week, in a shocking revelation, announced that they have decided to re-shoot the entire film due to creative and other differences.

The official statement released by the makers said, “E4 Entertainment has engaged B studios to recreate the Tamil version of Arjun Reddy titled as Varmaa, on a first copy basis, on the latter’s insistence. We at E4 Entertainment are not 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.”

While the director and lead heroine were dropped for the new version, Dhruv was retained for the project. The makers are yet to reveal who will direct the new version of the film.

Reports suggest that debutant Girisiya, former associate of Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who directed Arjun Reddy, might be roped in for the project.

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First Published: Feb 18, 2019 13:53 IST