Ileana to replace Anu Emmanuel in Amar Akbar Anthony

After six long years, actress Ileana D'Cruz is all set to make her Tollywood comeback as she replaces Anu Emmanuel as the female lead of upcoming Ravi Teja-starrer '

Amar Akbar Anthony

'.
The actress sent rumour mills buzzing after she tweeted last week saying that it's about time she does another film with Ravi Teja. Responding to a post celebrating 9 years of 'Kick',

Ileana

tweeted, "9 years!!! I think Ravi and I need to do another film again! This one was so so special though ♥️�� Naina was one of my funnest characters till date! (sic)."

Confirming the actress' comeback to Telugu cinema, a representative from Mythri Movie Makers told Hyderabad Times, "Yes, Ileana has been brought on board. It has been a long time since the Telugu audience has seen her and it will be exciting to watch her pair up with Ravi Teja again."

This comes after actress Anu Emmanuel finally confirmed that she will no longer be a part of 'Amar Akbar Anthony'. The actress has stated that she had to back out of the project since its dates clashed with her film 'Sailaja Reddy Alludu'.

"Unfortunately I won’t be a part of #AmarAkbarAnthony due to date clash between #SailajaReddyAlludu. I wish the team of #AmarAkbarAnthony all the best ������ (sic)," the actress posted on Twitter.

Soon after her statement, rumour mills were buzzing that the actress had walked out of the project as the makers wanted to replace her with a bigger star. Given that Anu's last two films - Agnyaathavaasi and Naa Peru Surya - failed to set cash registers ringing and that a lot is at stake for both

Srinu Vaitla

and Ravi (who themselves have had a string of flops in recent times), the makers decided to opt for another heroine to replace Emmanuel, sources revealed.

Setting the record straight, Mythri Movie Makers, which is producing 'Amar Akbar Anthony', stated that the only reason for Anu not being a part of the project was because dates weren't available.

"Due to non availability of dates for our long USA schedule of 50 days, Anu Emmanuel will not be working in our film #AmarAkbarAnthony. We are giving this clarification since there are speculations in some sections of media that she has been replaced due to various other reasons which are not true. #AmarAkbarAnthony (sic)," the production house posted on its social page.