Jackie Chan Kamal Haasan Mohanlal In

Chennai: Tamil thespian Kamal Haasan's Rs.1.2 billion magnum opus "Marmayogi" has been shelved.

"The project has been deferred for the time being. There are resource crunches globally and the film industry is no exception. Meanwhile, Kamal is doing a Tamil comedy quickie," R. Venkatakrishnan, COO of Pyramid Saimira, producer of the movie, told IANS.

Venkatakrishnan, however, did not comment on the prospects of co-producing the comedy.

The shooting of "Marmayogi" was scheduled to begin Friday in Hyderabad's Ramoji Film City.

Meanwhile, Haasan has registered a title "Thalaivan Irukkiraan" with the Tamil Film Producers' Council. The project is under discussion, sources close to the actor said.

According to industry sources, actresses Trisha and Shreya Saran who had been signed for "Marmayogi", are said to have agreed to work in the ensuing venture.

"Marmayogi" is the second of Haasan's dream costume dramas to be shelved.

The first, "Marudhanayagam", launched in 1997 by Queen Elizabeth was shelved within 10 days after going on floors after a British company that had planned to co-produce it backed out.

Haasan's earlier comedies - "Avvai Shanmughi", said to be loosely based on Hollywood hit "Mrs. Doubtfire", and "Vasool Raja M.B.B.S.", a remake of Bollywood hit "Munnabhai M.B.B.S. fared well at the box office.

Akshay Kumar, go eat your art out. The Malayalam maverick Mohanlal is all set to do a full-on action scene with Jackie Chan.

The film in Japanese called Nair San directed by Keralite, Albert, is based on a real-life character. And Mohanlal learnt Japanese for the role. He now steps into the action arena for an action scene with Jackie Chan who makes a special appearance in Nair San.

Says Mohanlal, "Jackie Chan appears in a major action sequence with me. I'm trying to physically prepare for the role. I've already shot for about 150 days for Nair San in Japan and Mongalia. I'm the first actor from Malayalam cinema to feature in a Japanese film. I've to speak not only in Japanese, but also in Chinese and Mongolian."

Nair San will be subtitled in English and released all over the world.

The action scene with Jackie Chan will be shot in Mongolia. Says Mohanlal, "Nair was an Indian freedom fighter. I've met the man. He owns a chain of restaurants. I've been to his restaurant in Tokyo. And he has been to my home in Kerala. He passed away at the age of 85-86. I feel very privileged to be playing Nair."

Interestingly, Mohanlal's southern colleague Rajnikanth is a craze in Japan. Speaking on the failure of Rajnikanth's new film Kuselan, Mohanlal observes, "Actors like Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth are larger than life. They cannot be accepted in guest roles. I can get away with small cameos, off beat roles, walk-on parts anything. I'm playing a 90- year old man in a new film. There're some actors in this country like Amitabh Bachchan, Chiranjeevi, Kamal Haasan and Rajnikant who are beyond success and failure. They're blessed people, if you say I am one of them then I too am blessed."

Mohanlal's new Malayalam release Akashagoparam is the first film that language to be based on an Ibsen play. "I can tell you this much. Ibsen at this point of time couldn't be done in any other language but Malayalam. I'm fortunate to have done it. As an actor, it's my job to do the best of the roles I get. However, the roles have to come to me. I can't go after the roles."

Says the softspoken actor, "It was director K P Kumaran's dream for twenty years. He had been pursuing me for fifteen years to do a screen adaptation of Ibsen's play. I finally agreed. Ibsen's The Master Builder is a complicated play. I've done stage plays including a play in Sanskrit. But Ibsen is tough. However, I treated the film like any other. I play an architect. Changes were made. For example my character's Norwegian name was changed for the Indian audience."

Mohanlal has also finished a war film Kuruskshetra on the Kargil war. "It's a major film." About his last aborted foray in Bollywood, Mohanlal says he has no regrets about doing Ram Gopal Varma's Aag. "People just pounced on Ramu. They forgot how much he has achieved in the past. Such things happen. In fact Priyadarshan has just offered me a role in a Hindi film to be done in the middle of next year. I get a lot of Hindi films. But they don't interest me. But I'll do Priyan's film. It's 12-13 day film. It isn't a conventional Hindi film. It has a message on AIDS. Priyan is returning to his roots. He recently did a fantastic Malayalam film called Kanjeevaram. I was supposed to do it. But I couldn't. Now I'm looking forward to working with him and to doing a Hindi film."