Simbu has had a shaky year with his 'Vanthaa Raajavathaan Varuven' bombing at the box office and also a huge controversy rising regarding 'Maanaadu' with the producer Suresh Kamachi announcing that he would be replaced with another star. Simbu went on a spiritual trip to Sabarimala and is said to be back with renewed vigor to get his career back on track.

An agreement has been signed between Simbu and Suresh Kamachi and 'Maanaadu' will reportedly go on floors from the third week of January. Venkat Prabhu is directing the project with Yuvan Shankar Raja scoring the music and Kalyani Priyadarshan playing the female lead. For the powerful antagonist role the team had approached Arvind Swamy but he could not accept due to his long commitment to the Jayalalitha biopic 'Thalaivi' starring Kangana Ranaut.

Reliable sources reveal that Suresh Kamachi has approached multilingual superstar Kicha Sudeep to star in 'Maanaadu' and that he is on the verge of giving his nod. Sudeep was recently seen with Chiranjeevi and Vijay Sethupathi in 'Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy' and is also playing the villain in Salman Khan-Prabhu Deva's 'Dabangg 3' which is hitting the screens on December 20th. More details about the rest of the cast of 'Maanaadu' is expected to come in the New Year ahead of the shooting date.