Peepingmoon.com exclusively revealed in September that Hrithik Roshan is in advanced talks with Disney+Hotstar to headline its Indian adaptation of the British mini-series, The Night Manager. The superstar whose last release (War) minted over 300 crores at the box office is apparently being paid the whopping 75 crores for what would be his debut on the OTT platform. Now, we have learned that Hrithik has signed the show and will begin the shooting for it in March next year.
According to sources, Hrithik has finally signed on the dotted line and will kick it off exactly two years after he finished the YRF actioner, War. The Night Manager will see him playing the role of a luxury hotel night manager and former Indian soldier who is recruited by a government agent to infiltrate the inner circle of a ruthless arms dealer. Billed as the most expensive Hotstar series coming out of India, the show is being planned on a huge scale and will be as stylish as the original that starred Tom Hiddleston—widely known for playing supervillain Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies— and Hugh Laurie of the American medical drama series House fame.
We've also learned that screenwriter-turned-director Sandeep Modi has come on board to helm this espionage thriller. Modi has previously made the festival-favourite Marathi film, Chumbak and co-directed Sushmita Sen starrer Aarya with Ram Madhvani earlier this year. "Disney+Hotstar was in talks with dozens of directors but finally zeroed in on Sandeep Modi who's just two projects old. The makers were in search of a filmmaker who could do justice to this ambitious project and they believe Modi would perfectly bring out the nuances of the series that deals with a soldier-turned-hotelier-turned-spy, and his struggles to understand his contradictory, potentially self-destructive nature. He will start the pre-production for this project after finishing the work on the second season of Aarya," said the source.
Meanwhile, it's being reported that Hrithik has been approached to star in the Hindi remake of Vikram Vedha that will go on floors in the second half of next year. The superstar has apparently been offered the thriller after Aamir Khan backed out of it due to script issues. Hrithik is said to have been in advanced talks but hasn't signed on the dotted line as yet. If things work out, he will be seen playing a gangster against a righteous police officer played by Saif Ali Khan!