Rajini in Ramayan?

It may be recalled that Rajini was approached by Bollywood’s critically acclaimed director Rajkumar Santoshi, to don the role of Ravana in his magnum opus Ramayan.  It was over a year ago and Rajini politely turned it down citing that he is not interested in doing negative roles.

That role later went to Prakash Raj.  However there was no news after that. Rajkumar Santoshi has the habit of announcing grandeur projects and then go into hiding.

Recently when Santoshi was in Chennai for a film inauguration, he was asked if he is still hoping to cast Rajini in that role. Saying that he has not lost hope, “Rajini and I discussed this project in great detail.   I am keen in bringing out all the positive traits of the character Ravana and reasons forced him to imprison Seetha.”

“Ravana is a multi-faceted character and only a Super Star like Rajini can do justice to that character” said Santoshi. He further added that Rajini himself has done a great deal of research on Ramayan and Ravana. This movie is expected to commence in 2009 and Rajini could still don the role if he changes his mind, he said.

Ajay Devgan and Kajol are supposed to play Ram and Seetha respectively. No news on who would be doing Hanuman.