Vampires Movie: Samantha Out, Rashmika In?

In a surprising turn of events, it appears that Rashmika Mandanna has bagged the leading actress role in an upcoming Bollywood horror-comedy, “Vampires of Vijay Nagar,” replacing the originally rumored lead, queen bee Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

The film, which is set to be a part of producer Dinesh Vijan’s (Stree producer) successful horror-comedy universe, will see Rashmika Mandanna sharing the screen with blockbuster star Ayushmann Khurrana. Directed by Aditya Satpodar, the quirky tale is expected to begin filming by the end of this year.

While details about the project remain scarce, industry sources reveal that Samantha was initially in talks for the lead role, but the actress ultimately decided not to take on the project.

This has paved the way for Rashmika Mandanna, who has been steadily making her mark in the Hindi film industry, to step into the lead role. After the success of “Animal”, Rashmika has high-profile projects like “Chhaava” and Salman Khan’s “Sikandar” in her hands.

In Telugu, Rashmika has pan-India film Pushpa 2 and other film Girlfriend in her kitty, while Samantha hasn’t signed anything post coming out of the hiatus.