By Raisa Nasreen
Deepika Padukone has recently hit the headlines becoming for becoming the first Indian star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Fans and well-wishers of the actress are thrilled to know about the special honour. Meanwhile, in India, Deepika Padukone’s name has now been associated with a Telugu film. We’re not talking about her inclusion in Atlee and Allu Arjun’s film, but in Mythri Movie Maker’s backed 8 Vasantalu. Curious to know more? Read on to find out. Deepika Padukone and Suriya Were Set To Play Leads In 8 Vasantalu? The director of the film, Phanindra Narsetti, has revealed that he initially decided to cast Deepika Padukone in the film. He also revealed that he was looking to approach actor Suriya to play the lead as well. However, he didn’t go forward with it, because the film’s producers wanted him to look for fresh faces to play leads. The film eventually had Ananthika Sanilkumar, Ravi Duggirala and Hanu Reddy, play leading roles. Director Phanindra Narsetti鈥檚 new Telugu film, 8 Vasantalu, came nearly seven years after his debut feature film Manu. The film told the story of a girl named Shuddi Ayodhya, and follows her journey over eight years. Ananthika portrays a writer who also knows martial arts. Hesham Abdul Wahab鈥檚 music and Vishwanath Reddy鈥檚 cinematography gave this romance drama an edge. The film鈥檚 crew includes production designer Aravind Mule and editor Shashank Mali. 8 Vasantalu Controversy At A recent event a journalist questioned the makers about the depiction of a Brahmin character as a someone who assaults a woman in the film, in a particular assault scene that takes place in Varanasi. The video from the event quickly went viral putting the film under the scanner. 8 Vasantalu鈥檚 director Phanindra Narsetti took to his social media page and offered a clarification. He wrote, 鈥淭here were illegal slaughterhouses in Varanasi prior to 2017. Which were later converted to Public Health Centres once Mr. Yogi Adityanath became UP’s CM. They shut them down to prevent trafficking and protect cows, which is what I explored in the Varanasi fight, The trafficking thing We did our research prior to committing to the scene and didn’t invent something out of thin air for the film. We respect every religion, and the characters are only there to prove human nature and nothing else. Please share this message, along with this link to as many people as you can before this turns out into mindless propaganda and controversy that will hurt many people and the film as well. Thank you.鈥