KS Ravikumar has denied rumours that he is planning a sequel to his 2000 superhit Padaiyappa. The director told Silverscreen, “At present, no such project is in the offing. Padaiyappa is a classic. Everything should align correctly for a sequel. I would love to do another film with Rajini Sir. In fact, if it happens, and he is okay with a sequel, I will definitely consider it.”
A source close to the filmmaker says that Rajini has verbally agreed to be a part of KS Ravikumar’s next. “Both Rajinikanth and KS Ravikumar met recently. They will collaborate soon. Chances are that it will be based on a fresh script,” the source added.
Anushka Shetty is in the running to play the lead role, reports say. AR Rahman is the frontrunner to compose the music.
KS Ravikumar and Rajinikanth have collaborated on three films till now, including Muthu and Padaiyappa. Their last creation Lingaa was a critical and commercial failure. The team’s decision to release the film on December 12 (Rajini’s birthday) instead of a festival weekend was blamed by many for its poor show at the box office. The film was also criticised for blatantly lifting certain scenes from Hollywood films. Ravikumar also wrote the story, screenplay and dialogue for Soundarya Rajinikanth’s film Kochadaiiyaan, which used motion capture technology.
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At present, Rajinikanth is shooting for Karthik Subbaraj’s film in Dehradun. This is his 165th film as an actor. Simran, Bobby Simha, Vijay Sethupathi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui are part of this Sun Pictures film, which has music by Anirudh Ravichander.
Rumours have been doing the rounds that this would be Rajini’s last film as he wanted to concentrate on his political career, but they were shot down by the actor’s spokesperson. “There are no such plans. Rajini sir is actively hearing stories from young and talented filmmakers for his next project. Rumours about him quitting acting are false,” he said.