By: Mohnish Singh

National Award-winning costume designer and fashion stylist Neeta Lulla, whose body of work includes several blockbusters, including Taal (1999), Devdas (2002), Fashion (2008), and Jodhaa Akbar (2008), has been roped in to design costumes for filmmaker Gunasekhar’s next magnum-opus Shaakunthalam.

As the title aptly suggests, the big-ticket project is based on the classic love story of great emperor Dushyant and his wife Shakuntala, daughter of the sage Vishwamitra, and his wife Menaka. The plot revolves around their love affair, the secret marriage, separation of imprecation, and reunion of immortal love.

Shaakunthalam stars Tollywood actress Samantha Akkineni in the titular role. Though the female lead has been finalised as Akkineni, the makers are yet to lock the male lead for the magnum opus.

Director Gunasekhar has been roping in some of the biggest names in the industry for his ambitious project. Now, he has signed Neeta Lulla to work on the project. The team is currently busy with the pre-production work of the film.

The historical costume drama will have music by Melody Brahma Manisharma. Talking about the film, director Gunasekhar has earlier said, “Shaakunthalam is going to be a screen adaptation of the playwright Abnignana Shaakunthalam which was written by Kalidas. It is one of the greatest love stories and the story is set in the backdrop of the Himalayas. During the lockdown, I decided to make this part of Mahabharatam as a movie.”

Gunasekhar was earlier set to collaborate with Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017) fame Rana Daggubati on a film called Hiranyakashyap, but has decided to postpone that film and announced Shaakunthalam as his next directorial venture. The film will be produced by Neelima Guna under the banner of Gunaa Teamworks.

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