Rajinikanth to collaborate with Karthik Subbaraj for upcoming film; 2.0 likely to finally release on Independence Day

After the 2010 sci-fi action blockbuster Enthiran, Sun Television Network’s film production wing Sun Pictures has officially confirmed collaborating with Rajinikanth for the second time. The yet-untitled project will be directed by the 34-year-old filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj, best known for his terrific body of work that includes Pizza, Jigarthanda and Iraivi.  [caption id=“attachment_4364327” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Karthik Subbaraj and Rajinikanth[/caption] Rajinikanth, who has been long known for teaming up with veteran directors such as KS Ravikumar, P Vasu, and S Shankar to name a few, is associating with a young filmmaker for the second time after Pa Ranjith (Kabali, Kaala). With Rajinikanth’s project in hand, Sun Pictures is currently bankrolling two of Tamil cinema’s biggest and most-anticipated films including Vijay’s  Thalapathy 62 , which is being directed by AR Murugadoss. Sun TV, owned by Kalanithi Maran, officially confirmed the news on its Twitter page on Friday, calling the film as a ‘mammoth, colossal production’.

.@SunTV is happy to announce #Superstar’s next colossal production with @SunPictures.#SuperstarwithSunPictures @superstarrajini @karthiksubbaraj pic.twitter.com/wD5uPCWT0Z

— Sun TV (@SunTV) February 23, 2018

Reports of Karthik Subbaraj and Rajinikanth joining forces for a film has been doing rounds intermittently since the former met the superstar on the sets of Lingaa in Shimoga, Karnataka. Rajinikanth had showered lavish praise on Jigarthanda then and also told Karthik that he would have loved to play the villain role enacted by Bobby Simha, which fetched him the National Award for the Best Supporting Actor. Karthik is currently working on the post-production of his silent thriller  Mercury  which features Prabhu Deva in the lead role. The movie is slated to release on 17 April for the Tamil New Year weekend. “After he completed the shooting of Kaala, Rajinikanth has been meeting a lot of young filmmakers including Atlee, Karthik Subbaraj and Aruvi director Arun Prabhu. Now, he has finalized Karthik to helm his next which will be a hard-hitting, politically charged script,” a source in the know told Firstpost.  Details regarding the lead heroine, supporting cast and technical crew are awaited. Santhosh Narayanan, a regular collaborator of Karthik, is likely to compose music for the project. If he comes on board, it would mark his third consecutive film for Rajinikanth after Kabali and Kaala.  Rajinikanth is currently awaiting the release of Kaala  on 27 April . The movie directed by Pa Ranjith is currently in the final stages of post-production. The teaser of the film which is jointly bankrolled by Lyca Productions and Dhanush’s home banner Wunderbar Films, is likely to release in the second week of March. Meanwhile, Rajinikanth’s  2.0 , directed by Shankar and produced by Lyca Productions, is eyeing an Independence Day weekend release. The team is currently busy working on the VFX portions of the film which is billed as Asia’s costliest native 3D movie.