Producer Dil Raju and his cousin Shirish jointly run Sri Venkateswara Creations, one of the leading production houses in Telugu industry. A few days ago, while speaking at IFFI, Shirish stated that they were planning a film with Salman Khan, directed by Vamsi Paidipally. He also mentioned a Hindi remake of the Telugu hit Sankranthiki Vasthunnam with Akshay Kumar is in works. Since Shirish made these statements on record, many carried the news, assuming it was official.
However, two days later, Dil Raju issued an official clarification, surprising everyone. In his statement, he said the rumours and speculative reports surrounding Sri Venkateswara Creations’ upcoming projects were 'completely baseless.' He implied that Shirish’s statements were 'outdated speculations' now being misinterpreted as current developments.
“In light of recent rumours and ongoing speculation surrounding the upcoming projects of Producer Dil Raju and Sri Venkateswara Creations, we wish to clarify that these reports are entirely baseless and have been blown out of proportion. Several outdated speculations are being linked to current developments, which are inaccurate,” said Dil Raju in his statement.
Interestingly, Dil Raju did confirm one of the projects mentioned by Shirish. He said they are indeed developing a film with Akshay Kumar, directed by Anees Bazmee. This project is possibly the remake of the Venkatesh-starrer hit Sankranthiki Vasthunam.
“We are presently developing a project with Akshay Kumar that will be directed by Anees Bazmee. The film is currently in the pre-production stage and we will share official details in due course. We humbly request members of the media to refrain from drawing conclusions or circulating speculative information without confirmation from our end,” added Dil Raju.
This is not the first time Dil Raju has had to intervene and clarify statements made by Shirish. A similar situation occurred during the Game Changer controversy. After the Ram Charan-starrer directed by Shankar failed at the box office, Shirish publicly expressed displeasure, saying the film’s team — including Ram Charan and Shankar — never reached out to him after the failure. “We thought our lives were over after the Game Changer failure, but we are back again with the success of Sankranthiki Vasthunnam,” Shirish had said.
All eyes are now on how Shirish will respond to this latest clarification.
