With Vijay's 'Velayudham' becoming a Diwali release, it is confirmed that the Ilayathalapathy's next venture, the Shankar-directed 'Nanban', will hit the screens for Pongal.

'Nanban', a remake of Bollywood blockbuster 'Three Idiots', stars Vijay, Srikanth, Jiiva, Ileana D' Cruz, Sathyaraj in lead roles with Anuya Bhagawath and S J Suryah playing pivotal ones. Harris Jayaraj has scored music. The shooting for the movie is complete and post production works have begun.

In 'Nanban', Vijay plays an engineering college student, whose ideas are always out of the box. Jiiva and Srikanth play his close buddies in college. A major portion of the film was shot in Darjeeling and Ooty. Unlike other Shankar films, 'Nanban' was completed in a quick pace.

Says Vijay, "It is my longtime wish to join hands with Shankar and it has come true with Nanban. He is a dedicated director and expects nothing but his best from his colleagues. Shooting for Nanban was a great and lovely experience. I enjoyed it thoroughly."

Goan-beauty Ileana is expecting to start her second innings in Kollywood with 'Nanban'. She enacts the role done by Kareena Kapoor in the original, romancing Vijay, who has replaced Aamir Khan.

The actress pins all hope on the movie and circles close to her say that she would accept other offers in Tamil only after the release of 'Nanban', produced by Gemini Films.

Shankar is known for his grand approach and his producers, keeping his lavish predilections in mind, had no objections to spend the extra buck to shoot his signature style of visuals, especially in the songs of the film. "This has made Nanban a visual delight," sources say.

Confirming this, Shankar says, "I feel Nanban has shaped out very well in all aspects. The highlight of the film will be its characters and the excellent performances of the artists in it. It's going to be a treat watching Vijay, Jiiva, Sathyaraj, Srikanth, Sathyan, Illeana altogether. Every scene is edited and dubbed till date."

The 'mega director', who is fresh from the grand success of 'Enthiran' adds: "Vijay hosted a wonderful party for the completion of the film and it was so nice that all the artists and technicians of the film gathered; it was a very relaxing evening full of talk, dance, fun, laughter etc."

Let's hope that 'Nanban' will be an enjoyable movie, as much as its original was, probably even more entertaining considering the exciting cast and crew of 'Nanban'!