By: Mohnish Singh
Toplined by Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte, and Tabu, Andhadhun was one of the most successful films of 2018. Khurrana, who made his acting debut with Vicky Donor (2012), scooped the prestigious National Film Award for Best Actor for his exceptional performance in the thriller.
Apart from the audience, Andhadhun also caught the fancy of several South Indian filmmakers, who queued up in front of filmmaker Sriram Raghavan’s door to acquire the remake rights of the film.
While the Telugu remake rights of the film went to producers N Sudhakar Reddy and Nikitha Reddy, the Tamil rights were secured by Thiagarajan. JJ Fredrick has been roped in to call the shots for the Tamil remake and buzz is strong that it will mark the comeback of Prashanth Thiagarajan.
The latest we hear that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been approached to play one of the female leads in the upcoming venture. Confirming the development, producer Thiagarajan told a publication house, “We are in talks with Aishwarya Rai. However, she is yet to sign the project.”
If the former Miss World goes ahead and signs the remake on the dotted line, it will reunite her with actor Prashanth after a massive gap of 22 years. The duo last shared the screen space in the 1998 romantic comedy Jeans, which turned out to be a huge money-spinner at the box-office. We also hear that Prashanth has lost 23 kilos to fit into the character.
Meanwhile, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is busy with Mani Ratnam’s next directorial Ponniyin Selvan, which is a historical drama adapted from Kalki Krishnamurthy's historical period based fictional novel of the same name.
The multi-starrer film also features several prominent names from the South Indian film industry on its ensemble cast, including Karthi, Vikram, Prabhu, Vikram Prabhu, and Aishwarya Lekshmi.
Ponniyin Selvan reunites Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with Mani Ratnam after their 2010 film Raavan.
Dharma Productions scouts fresh faces after 500 auditions Getty Images 
