Sudeep replaced by Vivek

We had earlier reported that Ram Gopal Varma was interested in making a biopic on

Muthappa Rai

and had even met the reformed don for the project. There were reports that he'd cast Sudeep in the film, but the filmmaker has now said that he's replaced Kiccha with Vivek Oberoi in the quadrilingual film, thereby making it the actor's

Kannada

debut. This project is being backed by CR Manohar. Ask RGV about Vivek's casting and he says, 'After finishing the whole script and working on the characterization, I strongly felt that only Vivek has the required attitude and intensity to do justice to the role of Rai.' Quiz the filmmaker about what interested him in Muthappa Rai and he says, 'I have an encyclopaedic knowledge about all the biggest gangsters in the entire world, whether it's Pablo Escobar, Dawood Ibrahim, Al Capone, etc., but all their stories are nothing in front of the sheer drama and dynamism of Rai ' that's why the film has the tagline 'The Greatest Gangster Ever'.' When you tell him that Rai, unlike most other underworld dons, isn't as famous or associated with glamour outside Karnataka, he negates it immediately, saying, 'Nobody in the world knew who the Godfather or who Scarface was, but we all saw. For people who don't know, it's the story and his character that will be the hook.'