Sun Pictures announces Thalaivar 168 with Rajinikanth and Siva

Popular production house Sun Pictures on Friday, 11 October, announced that it will bankroll superstar Rajinikanth’s next project with director Siva. The yet-untitled project will be currently dubbed Thalaivar 168.

The production house, which is joining hands with Rajinikanth after blockbusters hits Enthiran (2010) and Petta (2019), took to Twitter to release a video to mark the announcement of the project.

Reports about Rajinikanth teaming up with Siva first emerged when the latter visited the former at his residence in May, weeks after the release of Viswasam (2019). Siva was invited over to congratulate on the success of Ajith-starrer which Rajinikanth really liked.

During the course of meeting, Rajinikanth appreciated Siva for making Viswasam and specially pointed out that he was really touched by the father-daughter relationship angle in the film.

Viswasam, which was the third film in the collaboration of Siva and Ajith, was centered on a father who leaves his violent past to make amends with his teenage daughter.

The film, which also starred Nayanthara, emerged as a blockbuster at the box-office and grossed over Rs100 crore. It’s all set to be remade in Kannada with Shivrajkumar in the lead.

Meanwhile, Rajinikanth currently awaits the release of his next film Darbar (2020), which has been directed by AR Murugadoss. The film, which also stars Nayanthara, sees the 68-year-old star return to playing a cop after 25 years.

The film, which will be dubbed and released in Telugu, also stars Suniel Shetty as the prime antagonist. Actor Prateik Babbar, Nayanthara, Nivetha Thomas and Yogi Babu play crucial roles. While Anirudh Ravichander has composed music, Santosh Sivan is the cinematographer.