CELEBRITY HUB

Jul 23, 2008

Mani Ratnam Scripting Rs 120 Crore Deal


Is Mani Ratnam cripting a Rs 120 crore deal?

It could be the biggest deal of South Indian cinema

Kollywood is abuzz with news that ace director Mani Ratnam has signed the biggest ever deal in the history of South Indian cinema, to do a threeversion film in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. His production company Madras Talkies is supposed to be in the final lap of negotiating a whopping Rs 120 crore deal with the Anil Ambani run Reliance Entertainment Big Picture, for all negative rights for three languages. Industry pundits say that if the deal takes place, it will be the biggest for a South Indian film producer and director.

Mani Sir, as he is known in Kollywood (Chennai), has been quietly working on the script of this film since the release of his super hit Guru in January 2007. The elusive director, who never gives interviews, has been keeping a low profile after the demise of his younger brother G Sreenivasan, the moving spirit behind Madras Talkies.

The Hindi version will feature Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Govinda in a negative role. Confirming that he has signed up for the movie, Govinda told TNN: "I am actually doing a film with Mani Sir. Isn't it every actor's dream to work with him? We met recently and I heard about my role, which interested me a lot. It is an intense film and my role will definitely surprise the audiences." Abhishek, who scored his first solo super hit with Guru, is all excited about this new untitled film, for which he has given bulk dates.

The Tamil and Telugu version will have Vikram doing Abhishek's role while Aishwarya Rai will be the common heroine for all the three versions. He is teaming up with his photographer from his early films PC Sreeram, the wizard of lighting in Indian cinema and his own 'discovery' A R Rahman.

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