Varalaxmi Sarathkumar is all set to make her debut in Sri Lankan cinema alongside The Lion King's Jeremy Irons in Rizana – A Caged Bird. The film is to be directed by Sri Lankan director Chandran Rutnam.
Rutnam is known for working as a line producer on Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Notably, he remade Neeraj Pandey's A Wednesday!, in English with Ben Kingsley as The Common Man. A Wednesday! was also remade in Tamil as Unnaipol Oruvan, which starred Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal.
Rizana – A Caged Bird is based on the true story of a Sri Lankan maid who was employed as a caretaker for an infant by a family in Saudi Arabia. In 2005, the child passed away in her care, for which she was executed in Saudi Arabia in 2013. Her execution sparked outrage in Sri Lanka, with then Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa writing to Saudi Arabia's King Abdul Aziz, seeking a pardon for Rizana. In the film, Vidhushika Reddy is set to portray Rizana.
The film will be produced by Jagath Sumathipala under his Sumathi Studios banner.
Varalaxmi was recently seen in The Verdict alongside Suhasini Mani Ratnam and Sruthi Hariharan. She will next be seen in Police Complaint. Irons, who was last in David Ayer's The Beekeeper, alongside Jason Statham, will be seen in Palestine 36.