Mahesh Babu, Nagarjuna, Aishwarya Rai film with Maniratnam a spy thriller?

The much-anticipated Maniratnam project, starring Mahesh Babu, Nagarjuna, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shruti Haasan, will reportedly be a spy thriller on the lines of "Bourne Identity" and "Mission Impossible."

In a recent interview, Maniratnam's wife Suhasini confirmed that the film's shooting will commence from June this year.

Earlier there were speculations that Mahesh Babu might not do the film owing to date issues.

However, Suhasini has confirmed that the presence of Mahesh Babu and other big stars including Nagarjuna, Aishwarya Rai and Shruti Haasan in the interview.

She has also said that the film's team is planning to rope in a Pakistani or an Iranian actor to play a pivotal role in the multi-starrer project.

The untitled flick will reportedly be made as a Tamil-Telugu bi-lingual. It is being said that Oscar winning music composer AR Rahman will be scoring the sound tracks for the film, while Ravivarman will be handling the cinematography.

Maniratnam's last film "Kadal," a romantic drama, failed to set the cash registers ringing. Expectations are high for his new project as it boasts of a big star cast. The film will mark the return of Aishwarya Rai to the silver screen after a sabbatical of nearly four years when her last film 'Guzaarish" was released.

The big budget entertainer will be reportedly produced by Vijayanthi Movies in association with Madras Talkies

An official confirmation about the project, its cast and crew details are still awaited from the director