While the initial plan was to go in front of the cameras this month, there is a change in plan for Varun Tej’s next with Merlapaka Gandhi. The untitled film, a joint production venture between Krish and Rajeev Reddy’s First Frame Entertainments and UV Creations, will now roll in November. The lanky actor is right now shooting for the last leg of Karuna Kumar’s period drama Matka and it will have his attention next month as well over dubbing and promotions. So Rajeev and Co. decided to start Merlapaka’s film, which is a full-length entertainer, after Matka unspools in cinemas in November. “We will begin with the Indian leg before we go to South Korea in January for an almost 40-day long schedule. Probably ours is the first Indian film to be shot there. South Korea is very expensive to shoot, which is why no Indian film was ever shot there. In spite of that we are going ahead with the shoot because we are confident about our script. It’s a kick-ass story,” Rajeev Reddy stated with an air of optimism, speaking to idlebrain.com.
Presently in pre-production, S Thaman has boarded the project as a composer. This will be the third time that the famed tunesmith will be working for a Varun’s film. He was the composer on the actor’s films like Tholiprema and Ghani. “We wanted someone strong. The movie has different kinds of songs from a mass number to a hip-hop one, so we felt Thaman was the best bet,” Rajeev opined and added that Manojh Reddy Katasani will be the lensman. He is the Dop of Krish’s Ghaati with Anushka. Some of his other films include Aswathama and Mechanic Rocky.
As far as the leading lady of the film goes, Rajeev said they are looking at two-three options and probably will finalize one name within a week. “We want to do the look test and take the final call,” he concluded.
