17 June 2024
Hyderabad

Varun Tej has been going through a lean pitch lately as his last two releases – Gandeevadhari Arjuna and Operation Valentine – failed to cast a spell at the box office. While he has pinned a lot of hopes on his next, Matka, whose impressive teaser released earlier this year piqued the interest of viewers, Varun seems to have one eye on the future as well. Although he has done a variety of genres in his career, romance has always paid rich dividends to him as the success of films like Tholiprema and Fidaa prove it. And now our sources tell us exclusively that Varun is going back to the same genre.

Yes, Varun’s next assignment, after the completion of Matka, is a love story, and it will be directed by Vikram Sirikonda, who debuted as a director with Touch Chesi Chudu (2018), starring Ravi Teja. While his first film might have been a damp squib, Vikram’s talent is spoken at length in the industry circles. Varun-Vikram film will be bankrolled by premier production house Mythri Movie Makers. “Vikram has come up with a cracker of a love story. The clarity and the vision he had for the project impressed the top brass of Mythri. They are gung-ho about the story he narrated. Vikram is planning to show Varun in a completely new light while tapping the actor in him. The project will go to floors towards the end of the year. While the script is more or less locked, Vikram is giving finishing touches to it. The casting process will be initiated soon,” a source close to the development confirms to us.

Vikram, who has a bachelor's degree in engineering from BMS College, Bangalore and a diploma in filmmaking from Asian Academy of Film and Television, New Delhi, worked in the writing departments of films like Mirapakay and Race Gurram. Before that he assisted VV Vinayak for films like Samba and Bunny.

-NAGARAJ GOUD