Sudeep’s return to direction to feature Salman Khan?

Kannada superstar Sudeep has been vocal about the fact that his years leading the Sandalwood team at the Celebrity Cricket League allowed for a mingling of actors and technicians from other industries. The cricket field became the platform for people to go from never having seen each other before to exchanging pleasantries and, in some cases, even forming deeper, more meaningful relationships. One such, for him, was his friendship with Sohail Khan, who captained the Bollywood side, which paved way for Sudeep to be a part of Salman Khan’s Dabangg 3 and, over time, become a part of the latter’s inner circle.

Sudeep, who is also a prolific filmmaker, has not had a directorial since the 2014 Manikya, something he has been looking at rectifying. In fact, according to reports, the actor-filmmaker has a script that he is keen to direct and act in, albeit only for the south Indian versions. Sudeep believes that the character would be apt for Salman too and is trying to get the Bollywood star to lead the Hindi version. The report states that Sudeep has already initiated a conversation about this with Salman and was to meet him in person in September, which did not pan out. However, he is hopeful of heading to Mumbai soon and giving Salman a narration, adding though that the decision to do it or not is the latter’s discretion.

As for his next directorial, Sudeep adds that the focus will be on the script and not about filling every frame of the film with himself and larger-than-life theatrics. “I wouldn’t want to fill the frame throughout and do something extra when I play the lead. As a director, I would want to give the sole importance to my script,” he was quoted as telling a publication.

In the interim, Sudeep is gearing up for the release of two of his films, Kotigobba 3, the sequel to his earlier Kotigobba 2, as well as the pan-Indian Vikrant Rona.