Marmayogi

Marmayogi is a forthcoming Tamil period film, set in the 7th century to be directed by Kamal Haasan, who with Marmayogi, will direct his fourth feature film. Kamal Haasan also acts in the lead role, whilst Hema Malini also plays a role in the film. The film, which is set to become the first Indian feature film produced by Walt Disney Productions, has A. R. Rahman as the music composer. The film, announced with a budget of 120 crore Indian rupees, is set to contest with Rajnikanth's recently announced film, Robot, in a race to be India's most expensive film to date.

Production
Development
Marmayogi was first brought up after the release of Aalavandhan in 2001, however nothing proceded. After a four year sabbatical from directing films since Virumaandi in 2004, Kamal Haasan announced Marmayogi as his next project after the completion of his ongoing film, Dasavatharam. Due to unwillingness of producers to sign up completely, several names were mentioned, however finally in early January 2008, it was announced that Walt Disney Productions will make their debut by a making a full feature Indian film, co-producing Marmayogi with Reliance Adlabs and Bharat Bala Productions. The film is likely to be released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

The film is believed to be based on the 1886 novel Vendetta: The Story of One Forgotten by Marie Corelli, however others have claimed that it is a remake of the 1951 movie of the same name starring M. G. Ramachandran, that film was widely known for being the first Adult rated movie in Tamil cinema. Another source claimed that "it is a children's film and the story revolves around how Kamal takes a group of people on a journey". Kamal Haasan is location hunting for the film, searching for areas in the United States as well.

Early indications also promise a box-office battle between Marmayogi and another magnum opus movie announced in early 2008, Robot, starring the other major star of Tamil films, Rajnikanth, both of the films have announced their budget as 120 crore rupees each respectively.

Casting
Following the announcement of the project, it is expected that it could be up to six months before the official confirmation of artistes, apart from Kamal Haasan and A. R. Rahman in the film is finalized. Hema Malini was signed up to the project, in late December 2007 to portray a supporting role. Other major actresses such as Kajol Devgan and Asin Thottumkal
have been approached to take the lead role, while Siddharth Narayan has also been approached to portray another role in the film.
 
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