Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; March 9, 2016)

It was recently reported that filmmaker Siddharth Anand is ready to reboot the Rambo franchise in Hindi, sparking off speculations over the casting. “Hrithik (Roshan) is always on top of my mind, but I haven’t finalised anyone as yet. It can be a new actor as well,” he had said. But now sources working on the project have confirmed that it is indeed Hrithik who will play the desi version of iconic character John Rambo.

Says a source, “The Hindi remake of Rambo will have Hrithik reprising Sylvester Stallone’s classic character, but with a desi twist. Siddharth bought the rights to the film a couple of years ago and is now all set to take it on floors.” Siddharth had collaborated with the star for his last directorial, Bang Bang (2014), which fared well at the box office. The action flick was the official remake of Tom Cruise-starrer Knight And Day (2010).

Hrithik and Siddharth remained unavailable for comment. However, another source close to the production team says, “Hrithik is currently busy with his other commitments and he will need to invest a lot of time into the prep for Rambo considering that it is a landmark character in American cinema. The film is now in the pre-production stage.”

The Rambo series was based on David Morrell’s novel First Blood and starred Sylvester Stallone as a troubled Vietnam War veteran and former US Army Special Forces soldier. The franchise consisted of three films — First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), and Rambo (2008).