Kamal Haasan to step in as director on 'Shabash Kundu'

Chennai: Tamil superstar Kamal Haasan, who stars in trilingual action drama "Shabash Kundu", is also stepping behind the camera after its director TK Rajeev Kumar fell ill.

The film, titled "Sabash Naidu" in Tamil and Telugu, decided to take over the directorial duties to avoid delay in the project.

"My director, Rajeev has taken extremely ill. The unfortunate setback occurred when we were on the fourth?day of our recce in Los Angeles. He has been diagnosed with a Lyme disease. It is a rare infection prevalent in Europe and North America. This is the reason I am now directing the film," Haasan said in a statement.

The actor-filmmaker said Rajeev is getting the best possible medical care in LA.

"We have put him in one of the best hospitals with one of our executives keeping vigil 24/7."

Haasan?is no stranger to direction. He has previously helmed?films like?"Hey Ram",?"Chachi?420" and "Vishwaroopam".

The character Haasan?plays in?"Shabash Kundu"?is a spin-off of "Dashavtharam",?a film that he directed in 2008.

"This time I moved in as a standby director hoping my friend, Rajeev will recover soon. It seems he will, but not in time to finish this film, which is tightly scheduled to end principle shooting by July-end or?the first week of August," Haasan said.

The actor said Rajeev started his career as a director with him nearly 25 years back.

"I am sure when he is up and about he will have many more films to direct. He has already done 25 films in his career. He'll do 25 more and I'll be in at least 10 of them."

The movie features Haasan and his elder daughter Shruti Haasan in the lead. Haasan's younger daughter Akshara is an assistant director in the film.

The music of the film is being composed by Ilayaraja.

The movie went on floor in the first week of June in LA and will release by the end of this year.