Kabir Bedi in Balayya’s 100th

Balayya’s son Mokshagna will be one of the assistant directors of the film

Bollywood veteran actor Kabir Bedi, who has films such as ‘Hulchal’, ‘Khoon Bhari Maang’ and ‘Dilwale’ to his credit, has been roped in to play a crucial role in Nandamuri Balakrishna's highly anticipated upcoming period drama ‘Gauthamiputra Satakarni’.

"Kabir Bedi plays a very important role and he will join the first schedule in Morocco, where we plan to shoot for about two-three weeks from May 9 onwards. In this schedule, one of three major war sequences of the film will be shot," film's producer Rajeev said.

After wrapping the Morocco schedule, the makers will return to India. "We haven't decided yet if we want to go back and shoot another schedule in Morocco. We'd like to see the rushes of the first schedule and then take a call. Moreover, it's getting very expensive to shoot there, so we need to plan accordingly," he said.

To be directed by National award-winning filmmaker Krish, the film is about the story of an unsung Satavahana ruler from 1st century AD. Contrary to rumours, the project will not mark the cinematic debut of Balakrishna's son Mokshagna.

However, he will be assisting Krish. “Mokashagna wants to know about the technical side of filmmaking before making debut as an actor and so decided to turn an assistant director. Balakrishna is extremely happy with this decision,” said a source.