Deepika to star against Rajini in Kochadaiyaan

Katrina Kaif was offered the role. But finally, Deepika Padukone seems to have grabbed it. And we are not talking about Ayaan Mukerji's upcoming Ranbir Kapoor starrer. History has repeated itself. And Deepika has emerged the winner. The actress will star opposite superstar Rajinikanth in his daughter Soundarya R Ashwin's debut venture Kochadaiyaan, a role that had been offered to Kat earlier. When contacted, Deepika confirmed the news to Mumbai Mirror.

This is not the first time Deepika has had the chance to work with the superstar. The actress was signed on for Rana, a film that had to be put on the backburner due to Rajini's health issues. "Deepika had even shot for a few scenes in Rana. However, now that Rajini Sir is back, he is rather excited about his post-illness comeback project. In fact, Kochadaiyaan is the most talked about project in Chennai right now," informed a source from the Tamil cinema industry.

According to industry watchers, Deepika's sudden exit from Abbas-Mustan's Race 2 may have something to do with her inclusion in the Rajini starrer. "Rajini Sir had complimented Deepika during the shoot of Rana. He had mentioned that she was one of the most beautiful actresses in the industry today," added our source. And needless to say, the pretty girl had gone running when the superstar beckoned.

Interestingly, Katrina had been offered the role earlier. However, a close friend of the actress informed Mumbai Mirror that Kat is definitely not doing the film. "The shoot for Kochadaiyaan involves a lot of hi-end technical work. Katrina has a packed schedule and her dates couldn't be coordinated with that of the global technicians," explained the friend.

Kochadaiyaan is being written by KS Ravikumar and music is composed by AR Rahman.