Mohanlal turns 65: When the Malayalam legend rejected Rajinikanth¡¯s 2007 blockbuster Sivaji for this reason

Mohanlal turns 65: Mohanlal, who turns 65 today (May 21), is one of the biggest and most celebrated names in Indian cinema. During his illustrious career, he has impressed fans with his versatile performances and striking screen presence. While almost everyone is aware of his contribution to the Malayalam film industry, not many may know that he once turned down an offer to play the villain opposite Rajinikanth.

Mohanlal refused to play the villain in Sivaji

Sivaji, which hit the screens in 2007, is widely regarded as one of the most entertaining films of Rajinikanth¡¯s career. It was directed by Shankar and marked his first collaboration with ¡®Superstar¡¯.

The ace filmmaker originally wanted Mohanlal to play the villain opposite Rajinikanth and even approached him with the script. However, the Iruvar actor turned down the offer despite being interested as he didn¡¯t want to allocate bulk dates to the action drama.

¡°Yes, Shankar met me and narrated the storyline. It was a negative character I found quite interesting, but they wanted many days from me spread over an entire year. It meant letting go of many of my Malayalam projects, which I didn¡¯t want to. I want the good relationship I have in Kerala and Tamil Nadu to stay that way. It was a good villain¡¯s role though,¡± he was quoted as saying by Reddit.

The role was eventually offered to Suman, who said ¡®yes¡¯ to it and received rave reviews for his work.

About Sivaji

Sivaji was an action drama that featured Rajinikanth in a role of software system architect who tries to help the underprivileged after returning to India from the US but soon realises that things are not as easy as he had thought. The cast also included Shriya Saran, Suman, Bose Venkat, and the late Vivek. AR Rahman served as the music director.

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