Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar starrer 2.0 is all set to hit the screen on Thursday i.e. November 29, 2018. Ever since the trailer of 2.0 got released, the excitement amongst the people to see Rajini as Chitti is sky high. Amid all the excitement, we recently learnt that the director of 2.0 Shankar had almost replaced Rajinikanth with Shah Rukh Khan as Chitti – The Robot. Well, this news was confirmed by the superstar himself.
Post success of Robot (2010), 67-year-old Rajinikanth had apparently thought that he was unfit for the role and requested Shankar to replace him with another superstar. Rajinikanth himself had confessed that director Shankar was thinking of replacing him with Shah Rukh Khan and in fact, even had Kamal Haasan into the consideration. In an interview with India Today, filmmaker Shankar was asked about the same. He said, “Ya, actually when I thought of starting part two, Rajini sir wasn’t feeling well. Because there were big stunts and all. So, at that time he wasn’t comfortable doing this kind of heavy stuff, heavy costumes, action scenes and all. But, because the script was ready, I needed a big star for recouping of a huge budget. At that moment, I had thought of going for other stars. But, after some time he recovered and did Linga. After he shot for Linga we met again and he told me, “I am ready. I am confident. We can do it now.”
Interestingly, not even Shah Rukh Khan but Aamir Khan was too considered to play Chitti in 2.0. However, last year in an interview with Komal Nahta, Aamir had said, “Shankar had offered me the film and I’m a big fan of his and Rajini Ji. He himself was not feeling very well health wise and he called me and said that ‘please do the film.” However, Aamir couldn’t do the film by saying, “Whenever I used to close my eyes, I used to see Rajini ji in that role. I could not see myself doing that role. I couldn’t feel it emotionally. And I told Shankar that wouldn’t be able to do it. Only Rajini ji can do it. He is irreplaceable. I’m a huge fan of Rajini Sir.”
Meanwhile, 2.0 also stars Amy Jackson playing a pivotal role. It is indeed a special film for Akshay Kumar fans as he will be making his debut in Tamil cinema by playing an antagonist in the film.
