Thalaivar 171 with Rajinikanth is an experimental film, reveals Lokesh Kanagaraj

Filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj is the talk of the town with his next directorial outing Leo, starring Thalapathy Vijay in the lead role, is nearing its theatrical release. While his fans are thrilled about Leo, they seem to be equally excited about his next movie, which will be headlined by Superstar Rajinikanth .  

In a recent interview, Lokesh shared a few interesting details about his upcoming movie, which has been temporarily titled Thalaivar 171. He revealed that he would have directed Rajinikanth much before Thalaivar 171, if not for the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. "First, we had plans to cast Rajinikanth as the hero in Kamal sir's production. We had also finalised the script and all. But, following the Covid outbreak, we were not able to do that," Lokesh told Behindwoods.

The Lokesh Kanagaraj movie that never happened

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That now-shelved project would have been one of a kind and it would have marked the first movie collaboration between Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth after a gap of many years. 

Kamal and Rajinikanth worked together in more than a dozen movies during the early years of their career. However, the duo parted ways to focus on their individual careers and they have not worked together since. 

"Soon after I signed the film with Rajini sir, I called up Kamal sir. He was very proud," Lokesh added. 

It's noteworthy that Kamal was also earlier discussed about Thalaivar 171, while expressing his happiness about Lokesh, a self-proclaimed die-hard fan of him, doing a movie with his friend Rajinikanth. 

Rajinikanth is excited about Thalaivar 171

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Lokesh revealed that he had only given a 20-minute narration to Rajinikanth as he was busy with the post-production work of Leo. He revealed that the pre-production of Thalaivar 171 was underway and it will go on the floors soon. 

"Two weeks ago, I had Rajini sir on the loudspeaker and made him speak with all my assistant directors. And he said, 'dhool kelapidlam kanna' (let's rock), everyone was overjoyed hearing about it," he noted. 

Lokesh revealed that his favourite Rajinikanth movie was Thalapathi, which was written and directed by Mani Ratnam. A contemporary take on Mahabharata, the film to date remains iconic in Rajinikanth's career for it showed the superstar in a new dimension. 

It seems Lokesh also aims to achieve the same effect with Thalaivar 171 "It will be completely different from all his other movies. It's going to be an experimental film," he revealed.