'Delhi Belly' now in Tamil, shooting starts May 7

New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) Hit adult comedy "Delhi Belly" will now be remade in Tamil and director by R. Kannan will start shooting for the film May 7 with Arya in the main lead.

The yet to be titled Tamil version will be produced by UTV Motion Pictures and and it will be completed by October. It is slated for a Pongal release in January 2013.

The original was co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Aamir Khan Productions and was directed by Abhinay Deo in English. It was also dubbed in Hindi.

Arya, who featured in "Vettai", will play Imran Khan's role in the Tamil Version. Popular Tamil comedian cinema Santhanam will play Kunaal Roy Kapur's role and actor Premgi will step into Vir Das' shoes.

"We have brought on actors who are youthful and popular, along with a very skilled director at the helm. We are confident that the great content of 'Delhi Belly' will act as a bridge for cinema loving audiences across languages," said Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO, UTV Motion Pictures, in a statement.

Hansika Motwani and Anjali will play an airhostess and journalist respectively. Actor Nasser, known for villainious roles in southern movies, has been roped in to play Vijay Raaz's role.

"Our next Hindi release 'Rowdy Rathore' is a remake of the super-hit Telugu film 'Vikramarkudu'. Some content transcends culture and language and draws audiences in for the sheer quality of story telling," said Kapur.

"In the same vein, we believe 'Delhi Belly' will work superbly well with the Tamil audiences and we are thrilled with the exceptionally adapted screenplay that a team of young writers has developed," he added.

John Mahendran of "Sachien" fame will pen dialogues. Youth icon Thaman will compose music and P.G. Muthiah of "Poo" fame will be the cinematographer for the film.

Leo has been signed as the editor and Videsh will do art direction.

Deepali will design costumes and stunts will be directed by Silva.