Billa 2 Will Be A Prequel To Billa

Ajith says, “I am delighted to be working with close friends, Suresh Balaje and Vishnu and am glad that we have a strong company like INE backing this project.” Director Vishnuvardhan adds, “The prequel to Billa is a tremendously powerful idea and we have finalized a screenplay which matches the intensity of the underlying idea. We are working towards putting together the winning team, which worked on the Ajith starrer Billa in 2007 and will leave no stone unturned to make ‘Billa 2’ a much bigger film than ‘Billa’.”

Billa was earlier made into Tamil with Rajnikant as the remake of Amitabh Bachchan starrer, Don. The film was remade in 2007 again into Tamil with Ajith playing the role essayed by Rajnikant. However, unlike the Hindi remake with Shah Rukh Khan, where ending of the film was changed to keep the protagonist alive, ‘Billa’ maintained the story of the original. ‘Billa 2’ is being designed as a prequel to ‘Billa’, wherein the film will focus on the journey of how David became Billa.

Says Sunir Kheterpal, CEO – IN Entertainment, “INE is looking to develop and produce films with talented filmmakers in Tamil and Telugu and it is an honour to be associated with a brand like Billa, original producers of Billa (which starred Rajnikant) represented by Suresh Balaje, Ajith and Vishnuvardhan in our first Tamil film.”

Commenting on the association, Suresh Balaje says “We are delighted to be working with INE and the Hinduja Group for ‘Billa 2’. It is a nostalgic homecoming for us as we produced the original ‘Billa’ with superstar Rajnikant. ‘Billa 2’ will go on the floors in early April 2011 as soon as Ajith’s current project Mankatha is completed”.

Soumik Sen, who heads development at INE, has worked on the screenplay along with Vishnuvardhan and the same is being developed into Tamil dialogue draft presently. Music director Yuvan Shanker Raja and director of photography Nirav Shah, who worked on the ‘Billa’ are likely to be associated with ‘Billa 2’ as well.

INE, part of the Hinduja Group, has tied up with Chennai based Wide Angle Creations led by Suresh Balaje and George Pius to produce ‘Billa 2’. Ajith, carrying on from the success of Billa in 2007, will relive the lead role of Billa. The film, helmed by director Vishnuvardhan, who also directed Billa in 2007 is looking for a release between December 2011 and February 2012.