The Tamil movie Varmaa has been retitled Adithya Varma and the director is Gireesaaya, the film’s producer announced on Tuesday. The Dhruv Vikram launch project was initially titled Varmaa and was directed by Bala, but was scrapped after producer E4 Entertainment expressed unhappiness with the finished film.

Adithya Varma is an official remake of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2017 Telugu blockbuster Arjun Reddy, starring Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandy. Gireesaaya assisted Vanga on the Telugu production.

Arjun Reddy is the story of a young surgeon’s heartbreak, descent into drugs and alcoholism, and journey towards redemption. The Devdas update was a surprise hit. Vanga is remaking his film in Hindi as Kabir Singh, with Shahid Kapoor in the lead role.

The Tamil movie is the debut of Dhruv Vikram, the son of Tamil movie star Vikram. He was cast alongside Megha Chowdhury. She has since been replaced by Banita Sandhu, who made her debut in the Hindi film October in 2018.

Varmaa was pulled out of circulation a week before its scheduled February 14 release. “We are not at all happy with the final version handed over to us...we have decided not to release this version,” the producer said in a statement.

Bala claimed that he was the one who had decided to exit the project. “In order to safeguard creative freedom, it was my own decision to relieve myself from this project,” Bala said in his counter-statement.

The new movie is being shot by acclaimed cinematographer and filmmaker Ravi K Chandran. Priya Anand is also a part of the cast.