Spirit: After Deepika Padukone's exit, THIS talented Kannada actress frontrunner to be Prabhas' leading lady?

After Kalki 2898 AD, people had hopes of seeing Prabhas and Deepika Padukone together once again for Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit. But it looks like the actress is no longer in contention to be the leading lady of the movie. The reasons cited in the media are being discussed by netizens and Bollywood experts. It seems she wanted an eight-hour workday to balance between her career and motherhood. Her daughter, Dua was born in September 2024. Moreover, the actress’ agency apparently told the makers that if the shoot extended beyond 100 days, she would ask for more fees. As per reports, she also refused to dub the movie’s dialogues in Telugu citing unfamiliarity with the language. It seems Deepika Padukone also asked for a share in the profits.

Rumours are circulating that she was dropped for her unprofessional conduct. Now, reports have come in that makers are looking in roping in Rukmini Vasanth for the role. She is already the leading lady of Jr NTR and Prashanth Neel’s movie. Many fans want Mrunal Thakur in the film. After Sita Ramam and Hi! Nanna, she has a good fan following in the Telugu audience.

Rukmini Vasanth who has studied acting in the UK is best known for her role as Priya in Sapta Saagaradache Ello with Rakshit Shetty. She won the Best Actress Critics award for a luminous and poignant performance in the film. In the mean time, many people have defended Deepika Padukone saying she is not wrong to ask for decent work hours given that she is a new mom. Also, she has always had the reputation of being a professional actress. Deepika had said that she believes in pay parity and knows her worth. It seems she asked for Rs 20 crores for the film.