Even as superstar Rajinikanth is busy with his upcoming film "Kochadaiyaan", there is a lot of buzz about his next project.

Rumour mills have been spinning tales of the actor starring in KV Anand's new movie, the details of which are being kept under wraps until the release of "Kochadaiyaan". Latest report is that Bollywood actress Vidya Balan will be paired with the superstar in this new flick.

In the past few movies, Rajinikanth has been seen romancing Bollywood babes including Aishwarya Rai ("Robot") and Manisha Koirala ("Baba"). Even before Robot ("Endhiran"), Aishwarya Rai was offered Rajini's films inclduing "Padayyappa (1999)" and "Chandramukhi (2005)" - a comedy horror film. But, the actress declined the offers citing various reasons.

Finally, when she was offered to play Sana (a medical college student and Rajini's girlfriend) in "Robot", she accepted it. The lead pair's chemistry was one of most talked-about in the film, which was one of the highest-grossers in 2010.

 In his upcoming movie "Kochadaiyaan", Rajini will share screen space with Deepika Padukone for the first time. Now, Vidya Balan's name is doing rounds as Rajini's next heroine.

This is not the first time that Vidya Balan's name has been linked to a Rajini film. Earlier, there were reports that Vidya was offered the female lead in Rajini's "Rana," but the actress declined. However, the movie was never made and Rajini began shooting for "Kochadaiyaan."

Again, Vidya's name was linked to "Kochadaiyaan' with reports claiming that the actress was offered to play as one of the three leading female stars in the movie. Later, Deepika Padukone was confirmed to have been paired with the superstar.

"Kochadaiyaan" is said to be the first Indian film to use state-of-art motion capturing techniques in 3D, in the likes of Hollywood movies such as "Avatar" and "The Adventure of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn". The film's crew is currently busy with post-production work. It is expected to be released in July this year, though there is no official word on it. The release date would likely be announced by the end of May.

"Kochadaiyaan's" trailer will be launched at the 66th Cannes Film Festival in France this month. Rajini is expected to attend the event. In a coincidence of sorts, Vidya Balan has been invited to be part of a jury at Cannes festival which is scheduled to take place from 15 to 26 May.