WWE star The Great Khali is all set to make his debut in Telugu cinema. The wrestling champion has signed up to play a key role in Theenmaar director Jayanth C. Paranji’s upcoming feature film titled Narendra.
Touted to be an intense drama that will be filmed on the backdrop of India-Pakistan relations, the film will have Nilesh Eti and Izabelle Leiti in the leads. A sports drama with boxing as the main theme of the story, the movie is presently being filmed in Hyderabad. It was apparently a very easy task to convince the 46-year-old Dalip Singh Rana aka The Great Khali to be a part of the film, since he felt the role was tailor made for him, informs a source.
“When the director met him, he was quite excited about the part offered. He was initially hesitant about working on a film in a new language that he didn’t speak or understand but the assurance of Jayanth pushed him to okay the film,” shared the source.
The seven-foot Indian-American wrestler who was the World Heavyweight Champion in 2007 has earlier made appearances in both television as well as films. Alongside being seen in American television show Outsourced for a cameo, The Great Khali was also seen in Bigg Boss Season 4. His last appearance on screen was in 2012 when he starred in the film Houba! On the trail of Marsupilami and the TV show Pair of Kings.
Director Jayanth’s last film Jaydev released in 2017 and marked the debut of Ganta Ravi, son of popular politician Ganta Srinivasa Rao. He spent almost a year in the film’s pre-production before going to the sets of Narendra. To be produced by Eshaan Entertainments, the film will be edited by Marthand K. Venkatesh.
