A patriotic air force action thriller backed by Sony Pictures International Productions will have South Indian superstar Varun Tej as the lead. The movie will be produced by SPIP and Renaissance Pictures and directed by Shakti Pratap Singh Hada. 

The 32-year-old actor mentioned, “I am honored to have received the opportunity to play the role of an Indian Air Force Officer and celebrate their valor on the big screen”. Written by Aamir Khan, Siddharth Raj Kumar, and Shakti Pratap Singh Hada, the movie will be shot in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously, as per Variety. The movie is expected to release in 2023. 

Also Read: Varun Tej’s Indian Air Force action movie: What we know so far

Who is Varun Tej?

Konidela Varun Tej is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. He was born on January 19, 1990, and is the son of Telugu actor and producer Nagendra Babu. His younger sister Niharika is also an actress. Actors Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Sai Tej, and Panja Vaisshnav Tej are his cousins. 

He attended Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, and graduated from St. Mary’s College, Hyderabad. 

At the age of 10, Tej made his debut as a child artist in his father Nagendra Babu’s movie Hands Up. He made his debut with Mukunda, starring opposite Pooja Hegde. In 2015, he appeared in the war film Kanche, opposite Pragya Jaiswal. He played the role of Dhupati Haribabu in the movie. The Times of India praised Tej’s performance in Kanche highlighting his, “capability to shift gears from intense to sobriety”. 

His third movie, Loafer was released on July 8, 2015. The movie was a box office failure. In 2017, he starred in a romantic comedy opposite Sai Pallavi in, Fidaa. Tej played the role of an NRI falling in love with a village girl. Fidaa grossed over Rs 90 crores at the box office. 

In 2018, Tej starred in Tholi Prema, a romantic drama movie written and directed by Venky Alturi. Tej’s role as Adi in Tholi Prema was widely appreciated by critics. Antariksham 9000 KMPH, a space thriller directed by Sankalp Reddy was released on December 21, 2018. 

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F2: Fun and Frustration, starring Varun Tej, Venkatesh Tamannaah, and Mehreen Pirzada was released in 2019. The movie was a box office success. Tej later starred in Gaddalakonda Ganesh, a remake of the Tamil film Jigharthanda. The movie was directed by Harish Shankar.

Varun Tej starred in F2’s sequel F3 which was released in 2022.