Yash and Mahesh Babu
A collage of Yash and Mahesh Babu.PR Handout

Fresh with the success of ISmart Shankar, Puri Jagannath is reviving his long-pending project and has set his eyes on the dates of a hot and happening Sandalwood star. Well, the ace filmmaker has now approached Rocking Star Yash, who has come to national limelight following the massive success of KGF: Chapter 1.

The latest reports in Telugu media claim that Puri Jagannath is taking up Jana Gana Mana, which he wanted to do with Mahesh Babu, years ago after his hit film The Businessman. The Tollywood Prince, who had given his consent to act in the flick, had backed out of the project at the last minute for the reasons best known to him.

Puri Jagannath has now met Yash to revive the project, which will be simultaneously shot in Telugu and Kannada languages. It will be also dubbed into Hindi and Tamil, say reports.

"Puri always wanted to make Jana Gana Mana keeping the pan-India audience in mind. The story is a take on the gruesome murders, rape cases and crimes that shook our nation over the last few years. The director sat twice with Yash to discuss the script in Bengaluru, and the duo will meet again soon for the final narration," Indian Express quotes a source as saying over the development.

A leading producer from South Indian has come forward to bankroll the flick, which is rumoured to be a patriotic film.

Puri Jagannath is not new to Sandalwood as he had directed two films before like Shivaraj Kumar's Yuvarajaa and Puneeth Rajkumar's debut film as hero, Appu.