Amy Jackson’s visa trouble delays The Villain shoot 

The shooting schedule of Prem’s The Villain has gone haywire, and all fingers were pointed at the director for the delay. But, the real reason is that the heroine Amy Jackson is facing trouble getting her visa.

Prem says, “I am aware of the rumours in the industry, and they blame me for the delay. It is unfortunate, but Amy Jackson’s visa troubles are not in my control.”

He adds, “Our current schedule was planned from November 8 and, in fact,  I had advanced the shooting of Sudeep’s introductory song in Mumbai because Amy was available only around that time. But, she called to inform us that she will not able to get out of USA for some time, till her visa is sorted.” Prem tells us Amy has now assured them that she will join the sets from November 20, but even that is not definite. “She is sorry about the schedule going off-track, but it is not in her control either. In fact, she, too, is facing problems with her other projects, like when she had to get back to the sets for Shankar’s 2.0, for which she had to shoot a song,” says Prem, who adds that for The Villain, he could not work on Sudeep’s introductory song nor could he complete portions of Shivarajkumar’s song.

Prem is grateful to producer CR Manohar and the two lead actors, Shivarajkumar and Sudeep, for their patience. “They have been cooperative and that’s really sweet of them,” he says. “In fact, Shivarajkumar had given me a schedule to shoot his portions three times, and I could not use his dates. Sudeep has been in touch with me to know of the developments, because he understands the pressure I am under.”

Despite every effort made by Prem, the film has been delayed by more than two months. He says, “Actors and producer of The Villain are aware of the reasons and I keep them updated from time to time. Initially, I had planned to complete the entire shoot by December, but it now looks like the film shoot will get over only by January next year.”

Meanwhile, since the film involves a lot of graphics, Prem is going ahead with that. “I am also starting on dubbing work from next week, while I wait for things to sort themselves out,” he says.