What An Irony! Budget Restrictions For Shankar?

Director Shankar Shanmugam was the trailblazer for the pan-India formula that has now taken over Indian cinema. He was the one who introduced visual extravaganzas and big-budget entertainers to moviegoers long back. Of late, the marquee director has lost his mojo and delivered back-to-back debacles. 

With his previous films like Robot 2, Indian 2 and Game Changer failing to match the high expectations, Shankar is struggling to convince big-ticket actors and also unable to find producers who can shell out huge money bags to align with the vision and budget required for his scripts and filmmaking style. 

As both Indian 2 and Game Changer resulted in huge losses, it has been widely believed that Shankar’s dream project ‘Velpari’ might find it too difficult to get a producer who can bear the massive budget demands. But, Shankar finally seems to have found a producer for his ambitious attempt, but with strict budget constraints. 

As per reliable reports in Kollywood, leading Bollywood film distribution company and production house Pen Studios, which is known for releasing several South movies all over North India, has agreed to pool resources for Shankar’s prestigious project which is based on Tamil novel Velpari. 

But, Pen Studios has reportedly put some conditions before Shankar with regard to the film’s budget. The production house is said to have asked Shankar to submit the budget estimate and also clear plan on the shooting schedules. The producer has even asked Shankar to give a written assurance on not exceeding the budget at any cost once the shooting starts. 

It is not yet clear whether Shankar has acceded to these conditions and gave assurance to the production house or not. The project might go on floors once Shankar signs an agreement with the producer over these stipulations. 

A few months ago, Shankar expressed confidence in making his dream project a reality on the big screen. He is yet to announce the cast and crew for this much awaited period drama which is likely to be the biggest outing in his filmography.