Jackie Shroff
Jackie ShroffReuters

Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff is returning to Tamil films with "Maayavan," the directorial debut of producer CV Kumar. Reports say he will play a negative role in the forthcoming movie.

CV Kumar, who has produced successful films like "Pizza" and "Soodhu Kavvum," has confirmed the news to the Times of India. He revealed that he met Jackie Shroff in Mumbai last week and the actor agreed to work in the project after hearing the story.

CV Kumar added he needed an actor of Jackie Shroff's calibre to do justice to the powerful role. The actor will portray a don-like character in "Maayavan" and also be a part of action sequences.

Jackie Shroff had made his Tamil debut in Thiagarajan Kumararaja's "Aaranya Kandam," in which he had played an ageing gangster. He was next seen in Rajinikanth's Tamil historical fiction, "Kochadaiiyaan," India's first photorealistic motion capture film, in which he played the role of a king named Raja Mahendran.

"Maayavan" is a science fiction action thriller, based on the story and screenplay written by Nalan Kumaraswamy. The film features music by Ghibran, cinematography by Gopi Amarnath of "Pizza" fame, and editing by Leo John Paul.

The cast includes Sundeep Kishan, Lavanya Tripathi and Akshara Gowda in the lead roles, and Daniel Balaji, Jayaprakash, and Bagavathi Perumal in the supporting roles. The film is jointly produced by CV Kumar and KE Gnanavel Raja.