Vijay Sethupathi and Rajinikanth to share the screen space for the first time.
Young filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj is in the process of putting together a dream team for his next film, which stars Superstar Rajinikanth in the lead role. Just a few years ago, the chances of the directors of Karthik’s generation directing the Thalaivar of Indian cinema was almost zero. In a career spanning over four decades, Rajinikanth always preferred to play it every safe in order to protect his ever-growing popularity worldwide. He had a set of favourite directors such as KS Ravikumar, Suresh Krissna, Shankar among others. And he collaborated with these seasoned filmmakers regularly as they knew how to exploit his stardom to the hilt on screen and guaranteed box office success.
Rajinikanth, however, broke the pattern by signing Kabali with Pa Ranjith. The young director was just two low-budget films old when he impressed Rajinikanth with a one-line pitch: It is a story of Tamil gangster set in Malaysia. The gangster flick came out in 2016 and gave the much-needed break for the Superstar, who has been reeling from a series of flops.
Karthik shoulders more responsibility than Ranjith because of the possibility that the upcoming film may be the last film in Rajinikanth’s career given that he may bid goodbye to celluloid for good as he prepares to fight elections in the future. The director is assembling a solid star cast and technical crew to pull off his dream project.
Actor Vijay Sethupathi was one of the first actors to officially come onboard after the Sun Pictures announced the project. He is Karthik’s longtime associate since the director’s debut film Pizza. Vijay’s trust in the director is so much that he gave his nod to this film even without hearing the script. Of course, who will pass the opportunity to share the screen space with Rajinikanth?
While there are no details available about Vijay’s character, the buzz is that he is playing the villain in the Rajinikanth starrer.
The latest reports have it, Karthik’s other regular collaborator Bobby Simha has also been roped in for the project. Sananth, who was last seen in Karthik’s wordless thriller Mercury, is also onboard. Actor Anjali has been also reportedly brought in to play a key role in the film.
Actor Simran is said to be the frontrunner for the female lead. However, an official confirmation on the same is awaited.
As for the technical crew, composer Anirudh Ravichander will score the music and National Award-winning cinematographer Tirru will handle the camera.
The pre-production work of the film is going on at present. The untitled flick will hit the floors in June.
In the meantime, Rajinikanth is awaiting his second gangster film with Ranjith titled Kaala which will hit the screens on June 7.