Tamannaah to annexe 'Queen' Kangana Ranaut's throne

She may not have made a mark in Hindi cinema, but down South Tamannaah Bhatia reigns. Now, the Himmatwala (2013) actress is set to stamp her authority further by stepping into the shoes of Kangana Ranaut in her next big Tamil flick.

As per reports, Bhatia will star in the remake of Ranaut’s 2014 light-hearted drama Queen. The reports said filmmaker K Bhagyaraj had acquired the rights to remake the hit in the four Southern languages and there was a lot of speculation over who would play the lead in the Tamil version. Shruti Haasan, Bhatia, Nayanthara, Trisha, Samantha and Anushka Shetty were all considered, but Bhatia has stolen a march over the rest.

"I have signed the film, but we are still to lock the dates," Bhatia told the Deccan Chronicle newspaper. "As far as I know, the project will start rolling in 2017. Personally, Queen is one of my favourite films and from the day I saw it, I wanted to be part of the remake. I am excited as I am acting in a film that is close to my heart. However, the character will definitely be my version of Queen.”

The film will be directed by actress-director Revathy. The dialogues have been written by Suhasini Maniratnam who, however, will not act in the film.

Bhagyaraj confirmed that Bhatia had been finalised for the Tamil version while Amala Paul had been signed up for the Malayalam version and Parul Yadav for the Kannada. No actress has been signed yet for the Telugu version.