Nayanthara being considered for pivotal role in Kamal Haasan-Shankar's Indian 2, claim reports

The grapevine in Kollywood is abuzz with reports that Nayanthara is in talks to play an important role in Kamal Haasan’s much-awaited film Indian 2, to be directed by Shankar. [caption id=“attachment_4330431” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  If finalised for the film, Indian 2 will mark Nayanthara’s first collaboration with Kamal Haasan[/caption] Firstpost has learned exclusively from sources close to the team that Nayanthara has not yet been approached for the film — although she remains the makers’ top choice. “It’s true that Nayanthara has been one of the forerunners, during the team’s critical internal discussions. However, we have not approached her yet. It’s an intense role, and an experienced artist would be a good fit for the character. A final call will be taken very soon,” the source told Firstpost. If finalised, the magnum-opus will mark Nayanthara’s first collaboration with Kamal Haasan. Except for Haasan, Nayanthara has starred with almost all the popular heroes — Ajith, Vijay, Suriya, Vikram, Simbu, Dhanush — in Kollywood, including superstar Rajinikanth.

Nayanthara, last seen in Sivakarthikeyan’s Velaikkaran in Tamil, is currently shooting for an array of films including Lyca Productions’ Ko Ko (Kolamaavu Kokila), which is on the brink of completion and the Telugu historical drama Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy. She also has Imaikkaa Nodigal and Kolaiyuthir Kaalam under various stages of post-production. In October 2017,  we broke the news  that Lyca Productions, the makers of Asia’s costliest film 2.0, gained control of Indian 2 from veteran Telugu producer Dil Raju who quickly back-pedaled when AM Ratnam, the producer of the 1996 film Indian, demanded a hefty paycheque as royalty. On the occasion of Republic Day, director Shankar took to his Twitter page and shared a video, where he was seen floating a helium balloon towards the sky with the words ‘Indian 2 in Taiwan’ printed on it. “The location hunt for the project is currently underway. Lensman Ravi Varma of Barfi!, Jagga Jasoos, Dasavatharam, and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu fame is also accompanying Shankar on the recce. Since Shankar is waiting for the output of VFX shots of 2.0 from a host of international studios, he has for the time being shifted his focus to _Indian 2’_s pre-production work. Lyca Productions has already set up an office for Shankar and his team for Indian 2 in Chennai,” informed our source. Indian 2 is planned to be made as a trilingual in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, since Indian was a blockbuster hit in all three languages (in which it was dubbed) when it released 22 years ago. Indian 2 was announced by Shankar and Kamal Haasan at the grand finale of the Bigg Boss Tamil first season last year. “I got a line for Indian 2 three years ago. I developed the theme two years ago, and now I’ve decided to do it finally. I felt that it had to be done now. I had a hunch that Indian 2 will be my next film when I started work on Rajinikanth’s 2.0,” director Shankar had said. Kamal Haasan has already started undergoing training to get back into shape with the assistance of a dedicated instructor from the US. Meanwhile, Haasan’s comedy-drama Sabaash Naidu with Lyca Productions, which was put on the backburner when the Nayagan actor fractured his leg after falling from the stairs in his home, remains shelved for now.