With Pan-Indian being the new operative word across different Indian film industries, it can be hard for actors to keep up. Similar predicament fell upon Rashmika Mandanna, who was supposed to star in the much-awaited untitled next opposite Nithiin, which is to be helmed by Venky Kudumula. Sadly, she has had to walk out of the project.
Owing to her national presence following the monumental success of 'Pushpa: The Rise', Rashmika has become one of the most sought after names across languages. While the actress has just wrapped up shoot on Sandeep Reddy Vanga's 'Animal' opposite Ranbir Kapoor, she is also simultaneously working on 'Rainbow', her first Telugu-Tamil bilingual opposite Dev Mohan, which will see her play her first role as a central lead. Besides the two, of course there is the much awaited sequel 'Pushpa: The Rule' opposite Allu Arjun. With multiple projects in her kitty, dates became an unavoidable issue for Rashmika and she placed her concerns before Kudumula.
Left with no option, the filmmaker had to okay his actress' decision and let her go. It has now been learnt that Kudumula and the makers of the said film are going forward with Sreeleela, coming on-board.
Prior to this, Sreeleela had also replaced Pooja Hegde in the Mahesh Babu-starrer Guntur Kaaram. Owing to her striking good looks, Sreeleela is catching the fancy of many filmmakers down South and she does have a slew of big-ticket projects in her kitty currently. Between 2023-2024 alone, she is touted to be seen in as many as seven films including Aadikeshava, Skanda, Bhagvanth Kesari, Nithiin 32, Guntur Kaaram, VD12, and Ustaad Bhagat Singh.
The VNR Trio
At the early stages of her career, Rashmika had starred in 'Bheeshma' opposite Nithiin, which was directed by Kudumula. The popularity of the film's success was such that fans hailed the trio as the VNR Trio. Infact, the untitled second film was named VNR Trio as the working title. Well, as they say, sometimes you cannot have everything. We hope an opportunity presents itself in the future when the three successful names of Tollywood can work together again.
