Sabaash Naidu in Tamil and Telugu, titled Shabhash Kundu in Hindi, is an unreleased Indian action comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Kamal Haasan. Starring Haasan in the lead, he will reprise the role of Balram Naidu, a spin off of one of the characters which he played in Dasavathaaram. The film also stars his daughter Shruti Haasan and Ramya Krishnan in major roles. The film was shot in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages simultaneously, and the film's principal photography commenced in June 2016 at Los Angeles, United States. The film's music will be composed by Ilaiyaraaja and Jaya Krishna Gummadi will be the cinematographer. The film was to be directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar whose debut directorial was a Kamal Haasan starrer Chanakyan released in 1989, but Kumar felt ill on the fourth day of the schedule and Haasan had to direct a song to avoid the delay, and later officially took over as the director as Kumar was diagnosed with Lyme disease.
Kamal Haasan developed the story of Balram Naidu, the RAW operative featured in his 2008 filmDasavathaaram for Sabaash Naidu, and T. K. Rajeev Kumar was handed directorial duties. Later, Kamal Haasan's daughter, Akshara Haasan joined the team as an assistant director. The team left for Los Angeles on 24 May for the first schedule. Haasan signed his elder daughter Shruti Haasan along with Ramya Krishnan and Anant Mahadevan for the film. Brahmanandam was signed to portray the role of his aide in Tamil and Telugu versions, while actor Saurabh Shukla will play the same role in the Hindi version. Music was set to be scored by Ilaiyaraaja, who was to work with Haasan after a decade. The major location for Sabaash Naidu is Los Angeles and other parts of USA. A song was picturised on Shruthi Haasan, choreographed by Jamal Sims of Step Up film series.
Delays
The shoot of the film was initially put on hold in June 2016 after the original director T. K. Rajeev Kumar was diagnosed with Lyme disease, prompting Kamal Haasan to takeover as the director. Two days after Rajeev Kumar's exit, the film's editor James Joseph also withdrew from the project after his wife had met with an accident. After the completion of the film's schedule in the US, Kamal Haasan chose to replace the original cinematographer Jaya Krishna Gummadi after being unimpressed with his work. In July 2016, Kamal Haasan fractured his leg after falling at his home in Chennai, with the incident leading to an indefinite delay of the project. During the period of the production delay, in November 2016, Kamal Haasan split with his long time partner Gautami, who had also worked in the project as a costume designer. Delays meant that the actors in the project had committed to other films and it became difficult to coordinate all the cast members to partake in the shoot at short notice. In January 2017, plans to begin the film again were delayed following the death of Githamani, the wife of co-producer Chandrahasan. Two monthsafter the death of his wife, Chandrahasan also died of a heart attack while visiting London. The film was further delayed as a result of Kamal Haasan's entry into politics, though he pledged to finish the films he had signed on for.
