Akhil Akkineni teams up with Surender Reddy for new Telugu project

Actor Akhil Akkineni on Wednesday announced that he will be teaming up with filmmaker Surender Reddy for his next yet-untitled Telugu project. Akhil took to Twitter to make the announcement and he said this film is extremely special to him.

"It’s time! Announcing my next with Surender Reddy and Anil Sunkara. This one is extremely special to me. Fully pumped to start soon. Energy all the way (sic),” Akhil tweeted. 

The project, which will be bankrolled by Anil Sunkara, marks the maiden collaboration of Surender Reddy and Akhil. Vakkantham Vamsi, a popular collaborator with Surender, will handle the story and screenplay. The rest of the cast and crew will be announced soon.

Akhil will be next seen on screen in Most Eligible Bachelor (MEB). Being directed by Bhaskar, the film also stars Pooja Hegde, who is teaming up with Akhil for the first time.

The film will see Akhil play an Non Resident Indian (NRI) while Pooja will be seen as a stand-up comedienne. Produced by Bunny Vas and Vasu Varma, MEB has music by Gopi Sundar. The film was supposed to release in May but got postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Akhil has pinned high hopes on this project. Desperate for a hit, the actor wants to prove himself badly after delivering back-to-back duds.

There were also reports recently that Ram Gopal Varma might direct Akhil next but once again these were merely rumours that are yet to be verified.  

Akhil was also supposed to team up with a Tamil director for a project which will be high on animatronics and will feature a horse in a pivotal role; however, there’s still no solid information with respect to this collaboration. 

Akhil was last seen on screen in Mr. Majnu (2019), which tanked at the box office. Despite showing a lot of promise, he’s yet to register a hit in his account.

Meanwhile, Surender Reddy, who last directed Chiranjeevi’s Syeraa Narasimha Reddy (2019), will team up with Pawan Kalyan soon. The project was announced on the occasion of Pawan Kalyan’s birthday earlier this month. However, it won’t take off this year.