Shivarajkumar not a part of Vijay's #Thalapathy69 after all

Ever since his cameo in Nelson’s Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer became a massive success, Shivarajkumar is a much-wanted man in films across industries. Besides his already jam-packed schedule in Kannada cinema, he’s got offers from Telugu and Tamil cinema. So, when news broke that the Century Star would be a part of Thalapathy Vijay’s unnamed film with H Vinoth that KVN Productions is backing, fans were thrilled to bits.

Bhairathi Ranagal movie review: Shivarajkumar-led Mufti prequel is like very flat soda 

Last week, a snippet from an interview that was shot for the promotions of Bhairathi Ranagal went viral, wherein Shivarajkumar was seen discussing being approached for a special role in #Thalapathy69. He’d also said that he was hopeful that this would not be the Tamil superstar’s last film, as is being said now. Vijay is set to step into full-time politics after this film.

It was said that Shivarajkumar would shoot for his sequences sometime in February next year, after he returns from the US, where he is headed shortly for a surgery. However, it has now emerged that Shivarajkumar will not be a part of the film, after all. According to a source from the actor’s camp, the interview in which he spoke about Thalapathy69 had been shot way back in August, when it was, indeed, in discussion. However, things changed in the time since. H Vinoth has, apparently withdrawn the offer, presumably because of Shivarajkumar's current uncertain schedule. 

Shivarajkumar: ‘I’ve been having some health issues since the last few months’ 

As of now, the only non-Kannada film that Shivarajkumar will be a part of once he is back from the US is Ram Charan’s untitled 16thfilm, which is a sports drama. Shivarajkumar, who has completed work on composer Arjun Janya’s directorial debut, 45, will resume all shoots in February or March of next year.

Director Hemanth M Rao’s Bhairavana Kone Paata, which was meant to go on floors in December, will be among the first to start once the actor is back in action, one hears. However, there are whispers that a change in title maybe on the cards.