Rocky fame Vasanth Ravi to play the baddie in Rajinikanth's Jailer

Grapevine has it that director Nelson Dilipkumar cast actor Vasanth Ravi as the villain opposite Superstar Rajinikanth in the upcoming film Jailer. Hearsay is that the Beast filmmaker was impressed with the actor’s role in Rocky and decided to rope him in for the character. A source close to the actor told OTTplay, "It's true that Vasanth has been brought on board, and will be seen as a gangster. The first schedule will have portions featuring him and Rajini sir."

Jailer was scheduled to go on floors by the third week of August, with a puja ceremony taking place this week. However, with Tollywood on strike and the Jailer crew planning to shoot in Hyderabad, sources say the crew's plans are expected to change. According to sources in Hyderabad, the current strike will last three weeks to three months, depending on the actors' decision on remuneration.

Jailer, which is being produced by Sun Pictures, will feature music by Anirudh Ravichander. Ramya Krishnan, Kannada actor Shivarajkumar, and Priyanka Mohan will play important roles in the film.

Rumour mill, further, has it that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan signed on to play the female lead. However, we await an official word.

Speaking on how Rocky got materialised, Vasanth Ravi, in an interview with a leading English daily, said, the script was close to his heart. After Ram's Taramani, he was looking for something different, and Rocky's story was the best among the ones he listened to. "I signed other projects only after Rocky was frozen. It feels like a European action drama from the way it is shot and presented!"

Vasanth Ravi added how he's been patient all these years. "Taramani was a long process; we started the shoot in December 2013 and the film was released in August 2017. Rocky’s shoot started in mid-2018 and was released in 2021. Looking back, I have done only two films from 2014 to date. But I have the confidence that I have done good work. This faith keeps me going," he said.

On the other hand, Rajinikanth's last film was Annaatthe, directed by Siva. The movie was released to mixed reviews for Diwali in 2021.