Karthi, Tamil superstar Suriya's younger brother, is a major star in Tamil cinema.
He has been looking out for a breakthrough project in Bollywood for a very long time.
Karthi hoped that his 2019 Tamil hit Kaithi would be the ideal project to introduce him to a Hindi audience.
But it is now confirmed that Ajay Devgn, not Karthi, will be playing the lead in the Hindi remake of Kaithi entitled Bholaa.
Reliance Entertainment had announced a Hindi version of the Tamil blockbuster in 2019. The story of a convict on the way to meet his daughter was touted as a one-man show for its hero Karthi.
"Karthi doesn't have a market in the Hindi belt," a source tells Subhash K Jha.
"South Indian superstars are mostly restricted in their viewership to their home base. Karthi would be the natural choice in Hindi, but he will not bring in the audience. His elder brother Suriya made an attempt to get into Hindi cinema with Ram Gopal Varma's Rakht Charitra , but he failed."
Director Lokesh Kanagaraj, who directed the original, has been retained for the remake.
