Varun Tej to play an astronaut in his next film with The Ghazi Attack director, shoot from April

Basking in the terrific response for his latest outing Tholi  Prema, actor Varun Tej is all set to begin work on his next project, which will be a space film in which he’ll be seen playing an astronaut. In an exclusive chat with Firstpost, the film’s producer Y. Rajeev Reddy opens up about the ambitious project and how excited Varun is to take up this challenging endeavor. Rajeev and Varun had previously worked together in National award-winning war drama Kanche, in which the latter played a soldier. The yet-untitled project, to be directed by Sankalp Reddy, will be co-produced and presented by filmmaker Krish Jagarlamudi, who is currently helming Kangana Ranaut starrer Manikarnika. “After Ghazi, Sankalp has come up with another exciting script. I think the time is over for regular commercial cinema and the need of the hour is to innovate with interesting subjects. Sankalp has great potential and we as a company have been backing different content, so we’re happy to collaborate with him. When I heard the story, both Sankalp and I were in two minds if Varun would be interested in the project. But when he heard the story, he was adamant to do it. His willingness to embrace the project gave us more confidence,” Rajeev told Firstpost, and added that the pre-production work will commence from end of February or early March. [caption id=“attachment_4346207” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Varun Tej/Image from Twitter.[/caption] “It’s going to be a space film. Varun plays an astronaut. Last couple of weeks he’s been busy with the promotions of Tholi Prema. Now that the film has released, we hope to speed up the process. We plan to send Varun and Sankalp to Kazakhstan for month-long training in zero gravity conditions in early March. The regular shooting will commence from April and we’re planning a year-end release. Most of the shooting will happen outside India. Initially, we planned to shoot in the US, but now we’ve decided to shoot in Georgia where special sets and rigs will be built. We also plan to rope in stuntmen from Hollywood,” he said. Sankalp is busy finalising the rest of the cast and crew. Gnana Sekhar VS, who had worked on Krish’s Gauthamiputra Satakarni has been finalised to crank the camera. “We are looking at different options for the rest of the cast and crew. We need to finalise actors and also train them to shoot in zero gravity condition,” Rajeev said. Meanwhile, Varun’s Tholi Prema, which released on 9 February, has been unanimously praised for its mature portrayal first love. According to trade sources, the film has grossed Rs. 9.6 crore on its first day worldwide, making it the biggest opening in Varun’s career.