Looking for a T-town sperm donor

Director Madhura Sreedhar still has not found a lead actor for the remake of

While everything is ready for the Telugu remake of the Bollywood-hit Vicky Donor, it hasn’t hit the floors yet. Christened Dana Karna, the movie is stuck because the makers haven’t managed to find a lead actor to reprise the character played by Ayushmann Khurrana in the original.

While Eega star Nani was apparently the first choice of director Madhura Sridhar, the actor’s tight schedule meant that he could not take up the project. Rana Daggubati too missed out for the same reason.

A source close to the director confirms: “Nani has no dates. His diary is full for a year. He is currently busy with the remake of Band Baaja Baaraat and a bilingual film, Janda Pai Kapiraju. Madhura Sreedhar can’t wait for him. He even considered Rana for the role but even that didn’t work out as Rana is busy with films like Rudhramadevi and Baahubali.”

Sreedhar is now likely to cast Prince who has proved his mettle with Teja’s Neeku Naaku and Maruti’s Bus Stop.

The source adds, “Apparently, Sreedhar has asked Prince to shed a few kilos to match Ayushmann’s figure. And Prince too is keen. But nothing has been finalised.”

When contacted, Sreedhar says, “My distributors want me to do the film with a wellknown face. But I’m keen to do it with fresh faces. I agree that it’s a tailor-made role for Nani, but I can’t wait a year for him.

“I’m looking for an established star who fits the bill, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll go ahead with newcomers like my previous films. After all, the original worked out well with debutantes in Btown,” he points out.

He adds, “Rajendra Prasad has been finalised for the role of Annu Kapoor. However, the heroine is yet to be confirmed. It will be easy once the lead actor is finalised. There will not be many changes in the Telugu version but a very few changes have been incorporated to suit Telugu audiences.”