Rajinikanth with Pa Ranjith
A picture of Rajinikanth with Pa Ranjith.Pa Ranjith Twitter

The buzz around upcoming Rajinikanth–Pa Ranjith movie is growing stronger by the each day. The latest we here is that the director has roped in Kalaiarasan of the "Madras" fame to play an important role in the movie.

"Ranjith has given Kalaiarasan a very strong role to essay, though it's not clearly known yet what character he'll play," a source from the film's unit told IANS.

The movie reportedly has "Attakathi" Dinesh in a prominent role and the rest of the star cast has not been revealed as yet. It was rumoured that Nayanthara will play the leading lady in the movie. However, producer Kailpuli S Dhanu denied the reports and said media "expect the unexpected". At present, gossip columns are abuzz with reports of Vidya Balan playing the lead role of Rajinikanth flick.

The makers of the upcoming movie have announced the technical crew of the film, which includes Praveen KL as editor, Santhosh Narayanan as music director, Murali as cinematographer, Ramalingam is the art director, Rooban is the sound designer and Sathish is the choreographer

Rajinikanth surprised Kollywood when he announced that his next project will be with new- age filmmaker Pa Ranjith, who is known for "Attakathi" and "Madras". Rumours suggested that the actor has decided to try something different from his typical superstar image, with some sources claiming that he will play the role of an aged gangster in the upcoming movie.

Audience are now waiting to see how the director handles Rajinikanth's stardom, given his realistic approach to filmmaking. The shooting of the film is scheduled to begin around August in Malaysia. The shooting will also take place in various locations in Thailand, Singapore and Chennai.

Rajinikanth has had a bad run at the box office in the last few years, with his two releases, "Kochadaiiyaan", directed by his daughter Soundarya, and "Lingaa", directed by KS Ravikumar, not doing well. Therefore, starring in a Pa Ranjith film is being seen as a fresh approach by Rajinikanth.