June 30, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Kannada star, Sudeep, who has also acted in many Bollywood films, has been signed as a star in the film Vishnuvardhana. Veteran actor and film producer Dwarakish is going to launch the film at the Abbaiah Naidu Studios on July 1.

The film is a great gift for the millions of Dr Vishnuvardhana fans. The legendary Kannada actor passed away just six months back.

Vishnuvardhana will have Priyamani and Bhavana as the lead heroines. Directed by debutant V Kumar, the film will cast Sonu Sood in a very important role. The director has earlier worked with the renowned Tamil movie director K S Ravikumar in Villain and Dashavathaaram.

Producer Dwarakish informed us, “The finalization of the title of the movie was in a brainstorming session. We sat with some well wishers and technicians to take the decision. We had decided on the title on Monday but somehow the news spread. Over two hundred Vishnu fans called me up.”

According to the producer, the title is suitable for this action packed movie as Vishnuvardhan was known as “Sahasa Simha’ (Lion of Action) by his fans.

Legendary film director Puttanna Kanagal changed the original name Sampath Kumar of the actor to Vishnuvardhan while launching him in the 1972 blockbuster Nagarahaavu.

Vishnu had his original name displayed in the award winning film Vamsha Vruksha, in which he had a small role. Girish Kasaravalli and B V Karanth jointly directed the movie.

– Sampurn Wire