Vishnu Manchu’s dream project Kannappa launched, Mohan Babu to produce

Vishnu Manchu, who has always claimed that making Kannappa is one of the biggest dreams in his career, has officially commenced work on the project. The actor-producer’s magnum opus titled Kannappa – A True Epic Indian Tale was formally launched today at Sri Kalahasti temple, Tirupati. Nupur Sanon, who is foraying into Telugu cinema with Tiger Nageswara Rao, is cast as the female lead.

The actor calls the project his ‘cinematic masterpiece’ and a ‘labour of love’ that he has nurtured over the years. He expressed his happiness on telling the story of Kannappa, a devotee of Lord Shiva, on the big screen. His father, actor-producer Mohan Babu is bankrolling the multi lingual film under 24 Frames Factory and AVA Entertainment.

Kannappa – A True Epic Indian Tale will be helmed by Mukesh Kumar Singh, known for directing the much-revered Mahabharat series on Star Plus. The makers stated that he is sure to elevate Kannappa to great heights with his artistic brilliance and narrative depth. Revered writers Paruchuri Gopalakrishna, Thota Prasad, Thotapalli Sainath, Burra Sai Madhav have penned the script.

More than two years went into writing the script. Mani Sharma and Stephen Devassay are composing the music for the film. Sheldon Shau is the cinematographer for the project while Chinna is the art director. The film’s shoot will be wrapped in a start-to-finish schedule soon. Several big names in Indian cinema will join team Kannappa shortly.

The lead actors, director, producer were part of the film’s launch event. Vishnu Manchu’s last release as an actor-producer was the rural comedy Ginna, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The earlier version of Kannappa (titled Bhakta Kannappa) was directed by Bapu, starring Krishnam Raju, Vani Sri in 1976. The film was a remake of the classic Bedara Kannappa starring Rajkumar.