Vivek Oberoi puts off shoot schedule of Ram Gopal Varma's next to promote an adult comedy

Ram Gopal Varma's next project, 'Rai', was supposed to roll earlier this month, but we hear the schedule has been pushed back to July-end. Vivek Oberoi, who will portray gangster Muthappa Rai in the thriller, apparently had to drop plans of starting shoot as the makers of his next release - sex comedy 'Great Grand Masti' - decided to kick off their promotional campaign this week.

A source says, `Initially, Vivek thought he would work out his dates and take out time for RGV's film in the midst of promotions. However, since the production team of Great Grand Masti has come up with a full fledged, month-long publicity plan, he had no choice but to push the shoot schedule to July-end.`


Vivek is said to have conveyed his decision to Varma and his team. `He informed the team of Rai that he cannot be in his character's look while promoting the other film. Besides, he needs to keep himself completely free for the publicity campaign which include media interactions and city tours,` adds the source.

Rai will go on floors only after the adult comedy co-starring Riteish Deshmukh and Aftab Shivdasani hits theatres on July 22. `The makers have accepted his request to push back Rai's shoot,` the source informs.

Vivek remained unavailable for comment. Although it has been widely reported that the film was slated to go on floors in the first week of June, RGV insists, `Rai was always supposed to start July-end.`

Rai will be extensively shot in Mangalore, Bangalore, Mumbai, Dubai and London, and release in four languages - Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil.