First Look At Superstar Rajnikanth's Next Film, RANA

I've been patiently waiting for any reportable news to appear regarding Rajnikanth's next film, Rana.  Rajni has big expectations to meet after his latest film, Enthiran, broke all Indian box office records and became a surprise cult hit on the international festival circuit.  I've reported on Rana in the past, but most of it has been conjecture, simply because the production is very well guarded.  We finally have some interesting things to share, though, and a first look at one of Rajni's characters from the film.

Very little is known about Rana, and that's the way director KS Ravikumar, likes it.  However, here are the facts that I've been able to confirm.  The film will take place in three different historical periods, with Rajni playing a different character in each.  The avatar in the poster is the first to be revealed publicly.  The film begins principal photography on April 29th in Chennai on a reportedly immense set that is accessible only to people directly involved in the production, so far no press have been allowed on site.  The film will also reportedly shoot in London, where Ravikumar and Rajni scouted locations back in February.  That's pretty much it, apart from casting, which has been the subject of much speculation.

Names of possible female leads in Rana have been all over the map.  Rajni supposedly plays three different characters of three different ages, and as such, the producers are reportedly looking for love interests of those ages.  However, the only confirmed actress of board is Deepika Padukone.  Padukone has one bona fide hit on her resume, the Shah Rukh Khan juggernaut Om Shanti Om, which was her first film.  Since then she's had some middling success with films like Love Aaj Kal and Bachna Ae Haseeno, which both did decent business.  However, she also has a couple of HUGE flops on her hand, most recently there was Break Ke Baad last Fall and prior to that she starred with Akshay Kumar in the huge Holly/Bolly co-production Chandni Chowk to China, which is one of Bollywood's biggest disappointments ever, and just not a very good movie.

The list of names in contention for other parts in Rana is endless, but a few keep popping up.  Vidya Balan is one of the names that seems to stick around as a possible lead for the middle-aged Rajni.  The main problem producers seem to have is landing a female actress to play opposite the oldest Rajni avatar.  Word has it that rather than a romantic interest, this character is a sister to Rajni's character, which makes sense because Indian films tend to stay away from love stories starring older characters.   So much so, that many actresses refuse to play mothers in films for fear of being forever locked out of future romantic roles.  It is a bizarre aversion that I don't really understand.   The latest name attached to this role is Tabu, who has been a huge star since the mid-90's.  Not really knowing the plot or what is required, I can't say if I think she's right for the role, but she's a decent actress and that puts her head and shoulders above most Indian starlets.

I also reported in the past about the abandoned(?) Rajni CG film, Hara.  The producers of Rana are doing everything they can to distance themselves from that project, insisting that they are not related at all, however, this new poster seems to refute that claim.  The obvious CG image of Rajni looks eerily like the test shots we saw from Hara (Sultan the Warrior) back in 2009 and 2010.  I'm really interested to see how this plays out.

Rana isn't due in theaters until 2012, but I would guess we'll start seeing some video or teasers by the end of the year.  I will, of course, keep an eye out and hopefully get some more goodies as time goes one.  In the meantime, anyone have any opinions of the poster?