Young director Santhosh Nair’s maiden flick Manirathnam had gained some attention early on for its lead pairing – none other than the real life star couple Fahad Fazil and Nazriya Nazim who are set to tie the knot in August this year. But later on Nazriya had opted out of the film as she hadn’t made up her mind about continuing acting after the wedding.
Sources now tell us that she may infact be quitting the movie industry post wedding, which is a shame given the phenomenal success her latest film Bangalore Days is having. In fact, almost all her movies have been hits including Neram, Om Shanthi Oshana, Vaayai Moodi Pesuvom and so on.
In any case, this left the director with the difficult job of finding a new talent for the role and it seems he found his lead in the Niveda Thomas, the 18 year old starlet who turned heroine after a successful career as a child artist in television and film (Malayalam and Tamil).
Actually, Niveda landed the state award for Best Child Artist for her performance in the surprise family hit of 2008, Veruthe Oru Bharya, starring Jayaram and Gopika.
Recently though, she has played roles in hit Malayalam and Tamil movies like Thattathin Marayathu and Vijay mega hit, Jilla. She played Vijay’s sister and Mohanlal’s daughter in the flick. Incidentally, she also played Vijay’s sister in Velayudham.
And now, it looks like the beautiful actress is ready for her big ticket role, and that’s a starring role opposite the very talented Fahadh Faasil – although, making her entry as a replacement for the hugely popular Nazriya, she is making quite a statement.
The movie itself is reported to be a comedy oriented one and is set to start shooting in June, with a release set for Onam.