Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 4, 2014)

Who says Rajinikanth is ready to call it a day? His daughter, Soundarya, who’s preparing to unveil her directorial debut Kochadaiiyaan on May 12, has refuted rumours about her dad’s frail health. She insists that he’s absolutely fit and all set to work on his next project, a live action movie. “Expect an announcement soon,” she told Mirror.

 The film in question is a period romance that starts in the ’50s and continues to the present day. It is written and directed by K S Ravikumar who has also penned the story and screenplay for Kochadaiiyaan. Produced by Rockline Venkatesh, the film is expected to flag off towards the end of May on a lavish set being erected in Mysore. It will be a Tamil film with plenty of local colour and may get dubbed in Hindi too.

Buzz was, Sonakshi Sinha and Singham 2 actress Anushka Shetty were the contenders for the female leads. Mirror has learnt that the two roles are, a girl-next-door from another era and the other, a trendy miss of today. Sonakshi who loved the script has been given first preference to pick the role of her choice.

 A source close to the film reveals, “They are two different tracks and the girls will not share much screen space. This means they can allot a different set of dates to the two actresses. Sonakshi, a busy Bollywood actress, will pick her role depending on her schedule. She likes both of them equally.”

 The makers who met her in Mumbai recently, are also trying to rope in Oscar winner A R Rahman to compose the music. “Rajini sir loves Rahman’s music. He has crooned a composition by him in Kochadaiiyaan,”adds the source.

 Cinematographer Rathnavelu will reportedly be the DOP, while the rest of the cast and crew are still being finalised.

 A friend of Sonakshi’s confirmed the news saying, “She is trying her best to work out the dates for Rajini sir’s film.”