When Prabhas missed a golden opportunity

Not very often do we come across off-the-record happenings in film industry. Sometimes, during candid interviews of artists and technicians, the audience gets to know about some interesting tidbits. One such latest revelation that has triggered a lot of attention in social media is Kollywood filmmaker Mohan Raja’s statement on his blockbuster film Thani Oruvan.

In one of his recent interviews with a media portal, Mohan Raja revealed that he wrote Thani Oruvan script keeping Tollywood hunk Prabhas in his mind as the lead actor. The director said he even met Prabhas and narrated the story. But, Prabhas smoothly declined the story as he was doing a romantic entertainer at that time, said Raja. He added that Prabhas was not keen on doing cop stories then.

Disappointed with Prabhas’ rejection, Mohan Raja moved on to Thalapathy Vijay’s Velayudham. Later, he again revived Thani Oruvan script and directed it with his brother Jayam Ravi. He completed the film in quick time with solid production values and scored a big blockbuster. Due to rave reviews and strong box office success, Thani Oruvan grabbed the attention of Tollywood filmmakers. Allu Arjun acquired the remake rights and roped in Surender Reddy to direct Dhruva with Ram Charan.

Dhruva emerged as a super hit in Tollywood as well. Surender Reddy’s stylish presentation and Ram Charan’s phenomenal makeover turned out to be the biggest assets for Dhruva. Even today, Dhruva and Thani Oruvan are among the best spy thrillers in South India.

It is quite surprising that Prabhas missed out on such an amazing film which is definitely one-of-its-kind in that genre. He would have been a perfect fit for the story. Whatever may be the reasons behind Prabhas turning down the offer, this interesting fact has come as a little disappointment for his fans.

Meanwhile, Mohan Raja is getting ready to do a sequel to Thani Oruvan. It would be interesting to see Ram Charan and Surender Reddy come forward to do Dhruva 2 at this point because remakes are facing outright rejection from Telugu audiences. Mega fans, in particular, are against the remakes after facing embarrassment with ‘Bro’ and ‘Bholaa Shankar’.