Mahesh Babu, Vamshi Paidipally's Mahesh 25 to start shooting from April; Pooja Hegde confirmed as female lead

Mahesh Babu’s next untitled project with director Vamshi Paidipally, fondly called by fans as Mahesh 25, will start rolling from April. Mohenjodaro actress Pooja Hegde, last seen in Allu Arjun’s Duvvada Jagannadham, has been confirmed to pair up with Mahesh Babu, marking her first-time collaboration with the Spyder actor. “Mahesh Babu fell in love with the script the first time when Vamshi narrated it. He didn’t even suggest any major changes. Recently, Vamshi narrated the full story to Pooja Hegde. She’s also very happy with the script and quite convinced by how Vamshi has written her character arc,” a source from the team told FirstPost. [caption id=“attachment_4328673” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mahesh Babu and Pooja Hegde.[/caption] Vamshi Paidipally’s previous Tamil, Telugu bi-lingual Oopiri/Thozha, which featured Nagarjuna Akkineni, Karthi, and Tamannaah as leads, raked in the moolah at the box-office in both Tamil and Telugu. The slice-of-drama was based on an adaptation of the award-winning French drama The Intouchables and was declared a hit at the box-office. Now, Vamshi is busy with the pre-production work of Mahesh 25 which will be jointly produced by veteran producer Dil Raju’s Sri Venkateswara Creations and C Ashwini Dutt’s Vyjayanthi films. The movie, whose muhurat was held in August 2017, marks Vamshi’s first association with Mahesh Babu. Vyjayanthi Movies produced Mahesh Babu’s debut film as lead hero, Raja Kumarudu and this will be the second time collaboration for the actor with the reputed banner, which is currently bankrolling the much-awaited Savitri biopic Mahanati. Mahesh 25 is also the second time that the actor would be working for Dil Raju after their previous success Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu where he shared the screen with Venkatesh, Samantha, and Anjali. Mahesh 25 will have cinematography by PS Vinod, best known for his work in films such as Vikram Vedha, Manam and Aaranya Kaandam. Devi Sri Prasad has been roped in compose the music for the project. Mahesh Babu is currently busy with the final leg of shooting for director Koratala Siva’s Bharath Ane Nenu, which is slated to release on 27 April. Kiara Advani plays the lead heroine in the film, whose title was announced on the occasion of Republic Day.