Top most Bollywood actress for Prabhas’ next

The latest rumor in tinsel town is that Bollywood star Katrina Kaif has been roped in as the female lead opposite Prabhas for ‘Saaho’. Incidentally, ‘Saaho’ is the first project post the ‘Baahubali’ series for the actor. Tipped to be a slick action-entertainer, ‘Saaho’ is being made on a lavish budget of Rs 150 crore and the makers are apparently dishing out Rs 35 crore for one action episode alone.

The project is being helmed by young director Sujith and interestingly, ‘Saaho’ is only his second project. His debut film ‘Run Raja Run’ was a box-office success and impressed by that film, Prabhas had asked Sujith to pen a script for him, the result of which is ‘Saaho’.

Sources close to the unit said that the hunt for the leading lady had been on for some time now and talks had been initiated with the likes of Deepika Padukone and Amy Jackson.

However, they have apparently zeroed in on Katrina Kaif and the latter is believed to have given her nod to the project. Katrina, one of the leading stars in Bollywood made her debut in Tollywood with the Venkatesh-starrer ‘Malleswari’ which was successful.

Ghazi art director on board for Mahanati

Shivam Rao, who wowed audiences and critics alike with his production design in India’s first submarine-based war drama “Ghazi”, has been signed on for upcoming bilingual drama “Mahanati”, a biopic on legendary southern actress Savitri. “Shivam is on board. I was mighty impressed by his work in ‘Ghazi’.

Our film too will be made on a big scale and it requires extensive art work, especially to recreate long forgotten era and his expertise will come in handy,” the film’s director Nag Ashwin told IANS. “It will be a magnum opus period film set in the golden era. With massive set pieces, the film will be unlike anything we’ve explored in Indian cinema,” he said.

Keerthy Suresh will play yesteryear star Savitri in the film, which also stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Dulquer Salmaan and Vijay Deverakonda. Talking about the project, Ashwin added: “Most of the pre-production work has been completed. We start rolling from this month-end. Mickey J Meyer has signed to take care of the music.” The film will be made in Telugu and Tamil.