Director Prem returns to acting

Prem’s next after his directorial, The Villain, which was released recently, will be a return to his other love -- acting. After helming a multi-starrer with Shivarajkumar and Sudeep, the director-actor will start shooting for his long-pending project Gandhigiri from tomorrow in Mysuru. The film, directed by Raghu Haasan, was launched in February 2017. However, with The Villain taking off around the same time, Prem was not able to accommodate the dates for Gandhigiri.

Over the next 30 days, he will shoot with Ragini Dwivedi and Arundathi Nag, who plays his mother. The film, with Anoop Seelin’s music, also has Shamiela Mandre and Ranghayana Raghu as part of the star cast.

Script work in progress for Prem’s next directorial

It seems that the script work for Prem’s next project has already begun, but the director has not yet decided on the cast for the film he plans to helm. While rumour has it that the script is being written for Rakshita’s brother, Abhishek Rao, who might be launched with this film, there has been no confirmation on this front.

Tamil and Telugu versions of The Villain to be released 

The makers had announced that The Villain would be released in all south Indian languages. The film starring Shivarajkumar, Sudeep and Amy Jackson in the leads was released first in Kannada on October 18. Our source tells us that work is now underway to release the film in Telugu and Tamil.

“While the Tamil copy is ready, the makers are planning to bring in a couple of actors from Tollywood for the Telugu version. CR Manohar, who has previously produced Telugu films, understands the market and feels that it’s better to bring in local artistes in order to make the film viable in Telugu. However, Shivarajkumar, Sudeep and Amy Jackson’s portions will remain unchanged. Only a few actors playing the role of other characters will be changed,” says our source, adding, “A six-day shoot is required with these actors, after which the Telugu version will be ready. Once it is censored,  The Villain will be released in Tamil and Telugu.”