Is Kajol playing Rajinikanth in Soundarya s film?

It s complicated. But intriguing. Maybe more so than the film itself. But, it looks like the most creatively daring gender-switch ever achieved in an Indian film with the enterprising young filmmaker Soundarya Rajinikanth rewriting a role she conceived for her father for Bollywood s spunkiest actress Kajol.

According to sources in the know, Soundarya s original plan was to achieve a near-impossible casting coup in the Tamil film Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 with her legendary father Rajinikanth as the main antagonist opposite her brother-in-law Dhanush.

But, the idea of finally bringing Dhanush face-to-face with his iconic father-in-law fell through for many reasons, not all of them professional. In fact, there were rumours of a major rift between Rajinikanth and his younger daughter Aishwarya s husband Dhanush even as the family comes to terms with the elder daughter Soundarya s recent divorce.

Given the bleak domestic picture, Soundarya quickly re-scripted Velaiilla Pattadhari 2, gender-reversing the antagonist s character. Kajol is now the film s pan-India USP as Dhanush, in spite of a successful Hindi launch in Aanand Rai s Raanjhanaa, remains a non-entity outside the Tamil film industry.

A Hindi version of Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 is also being readied along with the original Tamil and dubbed Telugu versions. But, it is doubtful we will ever get to see Dhanush share screen space with his famous father-in-law.