The actor will soon join the sets of 'U Turn' remake.

Samantha Akkineni’s fans are in for a big treat with three of her films slotted for back-to-back releases. Reports coming in from the tinsel town are that Irumbu Thirai, a Tamil film in which she is paired opposite Vishal, is scheduled for release on March 29 and on the same day, the multi-lingual – Mahanati/Nadigayar Thilagam will also be out.
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The next day, her fans will get to see her in Rangasthalam in which she will be sharing the screen space with the Tollywood star Ram Charan.

Irumbu Thirai features Samantha Ruth Prabhu as the lead heroine, marking her first-time association with Vishal and Action King Arjun is playing the antagonist in the film.

Directed by PS Mithran, the film is produced by Vishal under his banner Vishal Film Factory. Yuvan Shankar Raja has composed music for this venture with George cranking the camera and Ruben editing it.

Mahanati/Nadigayar Thilagam is a biopic on the legendary actor Savitri. Directed by Nag Ashwin, the film has Samantha playing a journo and the film is told from her perspective.

Bankrolled under the banner Vyjayanthi Movies it has Mickey J Meyer composing music with cinematographer Dani Sanchez-Lopez cranking the camera. 

In Rangasthalam, she is paired opposite Ram Charan Teja for the first time in her career. The film is directed by Sukumar and produced by Naveen Yerneni, Y Ravi Shankar and Mohan Cherukuri under the banner Mythri Movie Makers. Devi Sri Prasad has composed music for this flick with R Rathnavelu wielding the camera and Navin Nooli editing.

With three of her films gearing up for release, Samantha is ready to join the sets of the U Turn remake. This Kannada movie will be made in Tamil and Telugu and Pawan Kumar, who had directed the original, will be wielding the megaphone for it.

APPARENTLY, NAYANTHARA IS BEING CONSIDERED BECAUSE OF HER STAR POWER AND HER SUCCESS IN AUTHOR-BACKED ROLE

Last year's critically-acclaimed Kannada indie hit U-Turn, which featured Shraddha Srinath in the titular role, is all set to be remade in Tamil and the project might feature Samantha Akkineni or Nayanthara in the lead. While it was long announced that Samantha will play the leading lady in the film's Tamil and Telugu remakes, latest reports hint that she has been replaced by Nayanthara. The reason for Samantha's exit from the project is yet unknown but the makers are yet to make an official announcement.
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The yet-untitled project is expected to roll from early next year. U-Turn, directed by Lucia fame Pawan Kumar, revolves around the mystery behind the death of motorists who die tragic deaths after breaking traffic rules on a particular flyover in Bengaluru. 

In January last year, Samantha watched the film in a special screening in Bengaluru and immediately gave her nod. It was believed that she was willing to produce the remake. However, ever since the announcement, there's been no development with regards to the project.

A few months later, rumours made the rounds that Nithya Menen was brought on board in place of Samantha and the project was supposed to go on the floors last year. The latest update is that Nayanthara might come on board to play the lead role after Samantha reportedly chose to exit the film for reasons yet unknown. Apparently, Nayanthara is being considered because of her star power and her success in author-backed roles and woman-centric projects. 

Over the weekend, reports emerged that the remake will officially go on the floors from January 2018. Speaking to New Indian Express, director Pawan Kumar, who will helm the remake as well, shed more light on the development: "The film is in the pre-production stage and shooting will commence from January. We’re trying to make it a bigger film now that we have Samantha in the lead," he said.

It'll be a busy 2018 for Samantha whose first major release will be Vishal's Irumbu Thirai. She also has the Savitri biopic, Mahanati, apart from Vijay Sethupathi's Super Deluxe and Sivakarthikeyan's yet-untitled Tamil project with Ponram.

THE ONGOING CONTROVERSY OVER THE FILM, REPORTEDLY GAVE THE PRODUCERS A DIFFICULT TIME.

The Vijay starrer Mersal released to packed houses on Diwali, October 18, 2017 but it was embroiled in controversy over the inclusion of certain scenes; particularly those about the GST.

While this has irked BJP leaders in Chennai as they claim that it was aimed at the BJP-led Union government, the producer of the Telugu version of Mersalseems to be the most affected.

The original plan was to release Mersal and its Telugu version Adhirindi simultaneously, but the delay in procuring the censor certificate for Adhirindi made it impossible for the film to release on time.

Producer Sharath Marrar had made all arrangements by pumping in huge amounts of money for the release in Andhra and Telangana region but the delay in obtaining the censor certificate had stalled the release.

Sources in the tinsel town say that obtaining a censor certificate for a film that has already been certified is simple, but the ongoing controversy over the inclusion of some scenes against the government, made things worse for the Tollywood producer Sharath Marrar.

The producer is keen on having the film released soon as he wants to cash in on the huge success of its Tamil version. Further, with pirated clips of some scenes spreading on social media, chances are that movie buffs may not go to the theatres.

While the release of Adhirindi looked bleak a few days ago, all hurdles have been cleared now and reports are that the film will be out on October 26.

Mersal, starring Vijay in triple roles, has Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Nithya Menen and Kajal Agarwal playing the female leads. The film has been directed by Atlee and produced by N Ramasamy, Hema Rukmani, R Mahendran and H Murali under the banner Thenandal Studio Limited.

AR Rahman has composed music for this flick with GK Vishnu cranking the camera and Ruben editing it.
With Vijay having a good fan base in Andhra and Telangana, hope the Telugu version hits the marquee soon.

Producer Hema Rukmani of Thenandal Studios Limited, is in the midst of spearheading a comprehensive promotional strategy for TSL's 100th production Mersal — and tackling the various roadblocks that come up in the days before a film's release. The producer sat down for a chat with Itz Chennai about the last-minute issues surrounding the project, Vijay's readiness to walk the extra mile, and director Atlee's portrayal of women characters.

"Regardless of the budget of a film, we always go through this pre-release tension. It's all part and parcel of the process. Just because it's a big budget film, it's magnified. The problem depends on how big the budget and the target is. Every producer faces hell and heaven before the film hits the screens. And, everybody is in touch with us; we are all friends and working towards it. Lakhs of people have put in their efforts for the film, and we have all their support," 
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Even if you hardly follow Tamil film industry, the odds are that you might have stumbled upon some of the promotional campaigns of Team Mersal. In fact, the film marks a lot of firsts for the southern film industry. Mersal is the first South Indian movie to trademark its title. It also has a character emoji curated by Twitter for various movie-related hashtags.

"Since it is our 100th film, we decided to do something as innovative as possible. We have a very young and vibrant team, and Murali (Murali Ramasamy, CEO of Thenandal Films and Rukmani's husband) is very passionate about doing things differently. He contributed a lot of ideas himself, and I executed some of those. Today we are glued to Facebook and Twitter, so instead of us trying to market our film, we decided to give that happiness to Vijay sir's fans, because they celebrate Vijay sir more than anyone. Now they are promoting the film, and it's a tremendous team working for the film's success," said Hema.

Although a lot of issues plague the release of the film, Hema says actor Vijay is quite upbeat, in a positive frame of mind and is calmly looking forward to the movie's release on 18 October, in time for Diwali.

"Vijay sir is thrilled with the kind of comfort we as a production company provided him, the support his fans lent during the audio launch, the amount of work Atlee has contributed and Rahman sir's music. He is delighted and looking forward to the Diwali release," said Hema.

Hema said Vijay didn't have starry airs at all and was very cooperative on set. She was part of the entire Europe schedule, where significant portions have been canned, as the on-site producer.

"Vijay sir liked the serenity of Europe. The hotel we stayed was above a shopping mall, and he even asked us if there's any good shop to purchase things. But I don't think we gave him the time to shop [smiles]. He was very cooperative and always there on time for the shoot, every single day.  Irrespective of how strenuous the previous day was, he had never asked us to reschedule or postpone the shoot. Rain or shine, he was there," recalled Hema.

The off-screen to on-screen transformation of Vijay has surprised a lot of his co-stars in the past. Hema Rukmani, who watched him perform at close quarters in Europe, was taken aback by the firebrand performer in him the moment the camera started rolling.
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"In Chennai, I mostly had to witness his performance live on the monitor since hundreds of people will surround him. But in Europe, I got the chance to behold the magic. It was such a revelation for me when the calm Vijay would transform into something else after the word 'action'. If there were any technical glitches and we ask him for one more (shot), there would always be a lovely improvisation. And his sense of continuity was unbelievable. For others, we have to remember the shot, but for him, it was never needed," said Hema.

Vijay's equation with children has been a favourite theme to explore for filmmakers who have worked with him over the years. Atlee, who sketched his debut collaboration with Vijay (Theri) on a father-daughter equation, has written a magician's role in the film for the star, which is said to be a major attraction for kids.

"Vijay sir insisted that he would do the magic tricks himself. There were three magicians on the set. Raman, an Indian-Canadian magician, was utterly zapped and said that Vijay sir learned the tricks faster than he did. He said he was glad that Vijay sir was not in this profession [laughs]. He possesses the style, so it was just a cakewalk for him. I guess there are around 16 magic scenes and no CGI was employed; Vijay sir entirely did the sequences by himself," revealed Hema Rukmani, about one of the three roles essayed by Vijay in the film.

Prod her about the most talked-about panchayat head role played by Vijay in the film, Hema said, "When we saw him on the sets with the rudraksha and holy ashes, we seriously felt like greeting him in respect. I told him a hundred times that it's his best look. A mass hero should be an excellent performer for the audiences to believe that he is larger than life. Vijay sir is one such performer. Whenever a superstar takes on a villager's role, we like it a lot. There is some naivety about him in that part, with innate goodness."

In Mersal, Vijay will be seen opposite Nithya Menen in the 50-minute flashback portion of the film. He also co-stars with Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Kajal Aggarwal, who are teaming up with him for the third time.
"I think the star couple of this movie would be Vijay-Nithya Menen. Even after the film gets over, their sequences will linger in your mind. Nithya Menen represents every innocent married woman. Kajal and Vijay sir will be bubbly and cute together onscreen. It will be kind of a classy portion. Sam and Vijay sir's sequence have much importance in the film. Despite her wedding preparations, Samantha has dubbed in her own voice and done a great job," concludes Hema

Telugu superstar Akkineni Nagarjuna's upcoming horror-comedy Raju Gari Gadhi 2 is a much-awaited release for his numerous fans. The film also stars his newly-wed daughter-in-law and actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu along with Seerat Kapoor.

While Nagarjuna essays the role of a mentalist in the film, Prabhu will be seen as a ghost. Directed by Ohmkar, this film is speculated to be the sequel of the 2015 Ohmkar directorial.

Raju Gari Gadhi 2 revolves around a group of tourists vacationing at an island resort where they feel some paranormal presence. That is when they get in touch with Nagarjuna. It was reported that Prabhu essays the role of a lawyer named Amrutha. But the actress will not be in her mortal self, but as a ghost, reports Hindustan Times.

Pictures of Samantha in lawyer's costume, probably for a courtroom sequence, were doing rounds on social media, thus alluding to her character in the film.

​However, many other pictures of the actress from the sets of the film, movie posters etc have been on social media, keeping the mystery around her character intact.

Prabhu tied knot with her long-time beau and Akkineni Nagarjuna's son Naga Chaitanya on 7 October in Goa amid close friends and family.
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Raju Gari Gadhi 2 is slated for a 13 October release this year.

The film has been confirmed to release in 3,292 screens worldwide, making it possibly the biggest ever release for a Tamil film.

With just a week to go for Vijay's Mersal, theatres across the globe are finalising screens for the film. Riding on high expectations, Mersal as of Tuesday, has been confirmed to release in 3,292 screens worldwide, making it possibly the biggest ever release for a Tamil film. 
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Hema Rukmani, director of Sri Thenandal Studios, the makers of the film, posted on her Twitter page on Tuesday and confirmed the screen count. The number is expected to grow in the next few days and might even touch 4,000 screens, according to reliable sources. 

In Tamil Nadu, the film is expected to open in 700 screens, amid rumours that the release might be postponed due to the ongoing tussle between the Tamil Nadu Film Chamber of Commerce and the state government over double taxation. In Kerala, the film has been confirmed to open in 350 screens, surpassing the previous record held by Baahubali 2 which opened on 320 screens. Mersal, in Malaysia, is expected to release in 800 screens which is a record of sorts. 
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In Mersal, Vijay will be seen playing a panchayat head, a doctor, and a magician. To play the role of the magician, he was tutored by three popular magicians for the characters. They helped him learn some magic tricks. According to well-known magician Gogo Requiem, the magic potion in Mersal will be astonishing. 
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The film, which also stars Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Nithya Menen, marks the second collaboration of Atlee and Vijay. Produced by Sri Thenandal Studios, the film has music by AR Rahman and also stars SJ Suryah in a key role.

Samantha has said that she is ready to adjust her pay packet depending on the budget of the movie. The actress, currently playing the lead role in movies like the Vijay starrer Kaththi and Suriya’s Anjaan, added that if a film-maker approaches her with a stunning story that has adequate scope to showcase her performance, then she would gladly forego her salary. Wise decision, Sam!

Samantha, who had just one big hit in Tamil, Naan Ee till now, is the most sought after heroine as she has bagged two biggies despite taking a long break in her career some months ago.

Usually, actors and actresses refrain themselves from commenting about politics when they are at the peak of their career, so that they don’t run into any controversy. However, the bold and dazzling actress Samantha has openly stated that she supports BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and she believes that he will bring in a great positive change for the nation.

Samantha also urged the citizens to vote if they need to see any change in the society. On the professional front, Samantha is currently acting in two biggies, Suriya’s ‘Anjaan’ and Vijay’s ‘Kaththi’.