When director Shankar approached THIS superstar for Mudhalvan before Arjun Sarja

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Back in the ’90s, I was absolutely living and breathing Shankar’s genius. He was the uncontested maestro of Tamil cinema, the director every actor, from Thalapathy Vijay to the one-and-only Rajinikanth, yearned to work with. The visionary filmmaker was simply irresistible!

Despite several refusals, Shankar ultimately chose Arjun Sarja as the leading actor in the film Mudhalvan, having initially encountered obstacles when casting for this role.

According to a report from News18, it was Thalapathy Vijay whom director Shankar originally wanted to cast as Pugazh in Mudhalvan. In an old interview, Shankar shared that he first proposed the role to Vijay via an associate who reached out to the actor’s father, S. A. Chandrasekhar. Unfortunately, due to calendar issues, those talks didn’t materialize.

It’s been mentioned that disagreements about Vijay’s pay might have influenced the decision, too. Moreover, it came to light that Chandrasekhar felt slighted because Shankar didn’t talk to him personally about the project, but rather went through an intermediary instead.

After that, Shankar sought out Superstar Rajinikanth for the character of Pugazh. Although Rajinikanth appreciated the script, he asked the director to postpone production until a few years later. Yet, Shankar was reluctant to delay the project and instead chose Arjun Sarja, his Gentleman co-star, to play the role.

Eventually, Mudhalvan was produced with Arjun Sarja as the main character, supported by Manisha Koirala and Raghuvaran. This movie turned out to be a tremendous hit at the box office and is considered one of Shankar’s most celebrated works in terms of both critical and commercial reception.

In this rephrased version, let’s say: “The storyline of the film centered on the compelling idea of a temporary Chief Minister, uncovering corruption and revealing societal scandals. Skillfully, Shankar tackled various sociopolitical issues within an entertaining blockbuster.

Movie titled “Mudhalvan” was created by the trio: S. Shankar, A. M. Rathnam, and R. Madesh. The film’s music was orchestrated by A. R. Rahman, while K. V. Anand handled the cinematography and both V. T. Vijayan and B. Lenin took care of the editing process.

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2025-02-18 18:39