Radhika Apte (“Andhadhun”) and Keerthy Suresh (“Maamannan”) are set to star in the new series “Akka” from YRF Entertainment, the streaming production arm of leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films, Variety has learned.
The period thriller will be directed by Dharmaraj Shetty. “Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte are considered two of the most talented actors in India today. They are unbelievably natural artists [who] are hailed as sheer tours de force on screen, having delivered incredible performances in project after project. So the fact that Keerthy and Radhika have been pitted against each other makes ‘Akka’ one of the most intriguing streaming projects being made in the country right now,” a trade source told Variety.
“The project is being helmed by debutant writer-director Dharmaraj Shetty, a disruptive creative mind recently discovered by [Yash Raj Films chairman and MD] Aditya Chopra. His vision for ‘Akka’ caught Aditya’s attention and the project was greenlit immediately with a brief from Adi to make ‘Akka’ one of the biggest tentpole series that YRF Entertainment will ever make. Every detail of this project is being deliberately kept under wraps by YRF to create intrigue,” the source added.
YRF Entertainment is currently basking in the success of its first series “The Railway Men”, which is among the top 10 shows on Netflix worldwide. It is a tribute to the unsung heroes of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and stars R. Madhavan, Kay Kay Menon, Divyenndu Sharma and Babil Khan. The outfit’s second show is Mandala Murders, a multi-season series billed as a gritty crime thriller. Vaani Kapoor, who won acclaim for playing a transgender character in the film “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui”, stars in the series alongside Vaibhav Raj Gupta (“Gullak”), Surveen Chawla (“Decoupled”) and Jameel Khan (“Gullak”). The series is currently in production.
On the film front, the studio’s latest instalment in its spy universe, Tiger 3, starring Salman Khan, is currently in theatres and has grossed $48 million.
