Entertainment Desk:

Actor Triptii Dimri is set to star opposite Prabhas in the highly anticipated pan-India film ‘Spirit’, directed by ‘Animal’ filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga.

The announcement comes in the wake of reports confirming Deepika Padukone’s exit from the project. According to sources close to the production, creative differences and scheduling demands led to the parting of ways between Padukone and the filmmakers. Allegedly, Deepika had quoted a fee in the range of 30 – 40 crore, requested an 8-hour workday, and declined to dub for the Telugu version. These were the factors that reportedly led to a fallout with the director.

With the search for a new leading lady underway, Triptii Dimri, who shot to fame with her performance in ‘Animal’, has now officially joined ‘Spirit’ as the female lead opposite Prabhas. This marks her first on-screen pairing with the ‘Baahubali’ actor.

Confirming this, Dimri posted on Instagram writing, “Still sinking in. So grateful to be trusted with this journey.

Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga and jointly produced by T-Series, ‘Spirit’ was first announced in October 2021 and is expected to begin filming later this year. After Prabhas and Dimri, the film’s full cast has yet to be officially announced, though speculation continues around Korean action star Don Lee potentially joining the ensemble.

Earlier, actors Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan were also linked to the film but have since exited for undisclosed reasons.

Triptii Dimri’s rising popularity has been attributed to her bold and memorable performance as Zoya in ‘Animal’, where she starred alongside Ranbir Kapoor.

Interestingly, Dimri is also confirmed to appear in Vanga’s next project, ‘Animal Park’, the sequel to ‘Animal’, but filming for that will commence only after ‘Spirit’ wraps production.