![\"Tamannaah](\"https:\/\/bollywood.businessofcinema.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Tamannaah.jpg\")
It\u2019s official. And we got it out of Ajay Devgn\u2019s business associate Kumar Mangat. After the unending speculation about who would be taking over Sridevi\u2019s role in the remake of the 1983 hit Himmatwala, fuelled in no small measure by the neo-Himmatwala\u2019s director Sajid Khan tightlipped silence, it is finally out<\/p>\n
Telugu and Tamil actress Tamannaah Bhatia would be playing the lead opposite Ajay in Himmatwala.<\/p>\n
Says Kumar Mangat, \u201cYes, it\u2019s Tamannaah opposite Ajay in Himmatwala. The shooting starts in August. Ajay has\u00a0 Bol Bachchan on release and Son Of Sardar is\u00a0 almost complete. Himmatwala is the only other project he will start this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Significantly names like Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma were bandied for the part of the whipwielding firebrand that catapulted Sridevi to stardom in Himmatwala in 1983.<\/p>\n
Says a source close to the project, \u201cKatrina and Anushka turned down the role. It was then that Ajay felt a Southern actress would fit the bill. He recalled to his director Sajid Khan\u00a0 and producer Vashu Bhagnani how Sridevi too had emerged from Tamil-Telugu cinema for Himmatwala. Besides, Ajay has lately delivered a big hit with another Tamil-Telugu actress Kajal Aggarwal in Singham.\u201d<\/p>\n
We also hear that Tamannaah\u2019s role in the new Himmatwala would part radically from the original.<\/p>\n
Says the source, \u201cSridevi in tight-fitting trousers and leather jacket with a whip in hand wouldn\u2019t work now. This firebrand opposite Ajay would a wield a gun. Nainon mein sapna from the original would be there. But it would be shot completely differently on Ajay and Tamannah.\u201d<\/p>\n
Initerestingly we are told Ajay sees sparks of Kajol in the way Tamannaah would be presented in\u00a0 Himmatwala.<\/p>\n
There are some interesting similarities between Sridevi and Tamannaah. Both are Tamil-Telugu actress making a bid to bombard Bollywood. Sridevi made a\u00a0 failed attempt in Solva Sawan before hitting big-time with Himmatwala. Tamannaah too has a flop Hindi film Chand Sa Roshan Chehra to her discredit.<\/p>\n
\u201cTamannaah has already started working on her body language for Himmatwala. Unlike Sri who couldn\u2019t speak Hindi when she did Himmatwala and had her voice dubbed , Tamannah speaks fluent Hindi.She\u2019s a Sindhi gone South.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other Southern sirens on the way to Bollywood: Ileana d\u2019Cruz in Barfi, Taapsee Pannu in Chashme Buddoor, Samantha Ruth Prabhu in Assi Nabbe Sau.<\/p>\n