Name-dropping!
Rachana Dubey (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 30, 2014)

Filmmaker R Balki has recently registered a film title that rides on its lead cast, Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush, quite literally.

Buzz is, the title Shamitabh, combines the last two alphabets from Dhanush's name with Bachchan Sr's widely recognised first name. But why the curious moniker?

In the film, Dhanush plays a deaf and mute junior artiste while Amitabh plays the man who finally gives him his voice.

When Mirror contacted Balki, he explained the choice of title, saying, "Yes, we've finally titled the film Shamitabh, as in 'Sh' before Amitabh. It is the name of a character in the film. We're half way through our shoot and we've enjoyed every bit of our journey so far."

The film which will mark the debut of Kamal Haasan's younger daughter, Akshara, has been in production since February and is being shot in Mumbai, Goa and Ooty.

Pegged as Balki's most ambitious project, the cast was rumoured to include Shah Rukh Khan too. But those rumours were put to rest when Balki announced that he would cast Rajinikanth's son-in-law to play the parallel lead with Amitabh.