Karnam Malleswari Biopic: Names of Taapsee Pannu and Rakul Preet Singh doing the rounds

On Monday, writer-cum-producer Kona Venkat took to social media and announced a biopic on Indian weightlifter

Karnam Malleswari

on the latter’s 45th birthday. Jointly bankrolled by Kona Venkat and MVV Satyanarayana, the untitled project directed by Sanjana Reddy will be helmed on a pan-Indian scale in multiple languages. Hailing from the mini town of Amadalavalasa in Andhra Pradesh, Karnam Malleswari is the first Indian woman to win a medal at the

Olympics

. She achieved the bronze medal in weightlifting at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Meanwhile, if the on-going speculations are anything to go by, the makers of

Karnam Malleswari biopic

are considering names like Taapsee Pannu and Rakul Preet Singh to essay the titular role. A source told a leading daily “Taapsee Pannu has already done several sports-dramas and pulled off the roles quite effectively. While she appears to be a natural choice to play the iconic weightlifter, the makers are also contemplating on Rakul Preet Singh, who is always interested in taking up fitness-based roles.”

Both Taapsee and Rakul Preet Singh are hands-full in Bollywood with a string of films in their kitties. While ‘Game Over’ was the last silver screen outing for the former in Telugu, the latter is presently starring in Chandra Sekhar Yeleti’s film opposite Nithiin. She is playing a criminal lawyer in the project.