Dil Raju announced to produce Indian 2 (Bharateeyudu sequel) with Kamal Haasan essaying lead role and Shankar directing it. Even before script is locked, Dil Raju walked out of the project since Shankar quoted high budget to make this film.
The ace producer thought of making Indian 2 at an estimated budget of Rs 100 to 120 Cr. But, Kamal and Shankar together demanded Rs 80 cr remuneration, which is nearly equal to the proposed investment of Dil Raju.
After Dil Raju opted out, Lyca Productions that made some high budget entertainers in Tamil had stepped in to bankroll the project. Shankar and his team had completed script and huge sets were erected in RFC, Hyderabad. Shankar even shot few scenes involving Kamal.
However, they decided to re-shoot the portions since both Kamal and Shankar were not too convinced with the outcome. This apparently has irked producers as Shankar already wasted nearly 10 Cr. They allegedly decided to scrap the film as they already lost plenty with Shankar’s previous film 2.0 starring Rajinikanth.
So, Dil Raju is very smart to escape the project without spending a penny!