Shivathmika Rajasekhar to star in Telugu remake of Kappela

Actor Shivathmika Rajasekhar, who debuted with Dorasani, will star in the upcoming Telugu remake of the critically-acclaimed Malayalam romantic drama Kappela. She will be reprising the role essayed by Anna Ben in the original.

The Telugu remake will be produced by Naga Vamsi of Sithara Entertainments and will go on floors later this year. Earlier, the names of Anikha Surendran, Krithi Shetty and Nithya Shetty were considered for the part.

"Naga Vamsi was impressed with Shivathmika's performance in Dorasani and offered her this film. She has agreed to come on board, but is yet to sign on the dotted line. She will play the central character in the film and has ample scope for performance. The producer is confident that she can do justice to the part," says a source close to the development.

Kappela tells the story of a naive happy-go-lucky girl who falls in love with an autorickshaw driver. Complete with a social message, the Malayalam version garnered positive reviews from the audience and critics alike after it started streaming on Netflix.

Actors Vishwak Sen and Naveen Chandra have been approached to play Sreenath Bhasi and Roshan Matthews' roles, respectively, in the Telugu version.

Apart from Kappela, Shivathmika is also working on an untitled film directed by Harsha Pulipaka and the Krishna Vamsi-directorial Rangamarthanda, which is, incidentally, also a remake, of Marathi drama Natsamrat.