The film has heavyduty action scenes for the Big B as well. When contacted producer T P Aggarwal confirmed, "Yes, Sanjay Dutt is doing an action film directed by K S Ravi Kumar .

We're also in advanced stages of talks with Mr Bachchan for the film. It's Ravi Kumar's first film in Hindi.

But it's an original subject. It's not a remake of one of his Tamil hits.

" What clinched the casting combintaion of the Dutt and the Big B was the director's formidable reputation. Says Aggarwal, "Ravi Kumar has done a number of films with Tamil cinema's topmost stars Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth.

In fact he was directing Rajnikanth in 'Rana' when the star fell ill. Almost all of Ravi Kumar's films are big hits in Tamil.

We're hoping he'd deliver a big hit in Hindi as well." (less)

Says a source, "Kolaveri D is an extremely popular song and played across almost every corner of India. Apparently Akshay and Shah Rukh were both very keen to get the rights.

Akshay was so keen that he even landed up at Rajnikanth's Chennai home and obtained the rights - thus beating King Khan to it!" However a source close to Akshay rubbishes the rumors, "Though he loves the song, Akshay is not interested in the rights of Kolaveri D. He never has been.

So the question of him beating Shah Rukh to the rights doesn't even arise. The only song rights that Akshay has bought is the rights of the Tamil song Appadi Podu from the film Ghilli.

" Apparently Sonu Sood owned the rights of the song Appadi Podu and had wanted to use in his upcoming film, but Akshay convinced the Sonu to let him get the rights to use the song in his film Naam Hai Boss. According to reports Sonu had got the rights from the music company but Akshay made a special request to him.

Naam Hai Boss is the remake of Malayalam film Pokkiri Raja starring Mammootty and Prithviraj in the lead roles. NHB will be directed by Anthony D'Souza (less)

Rajnikanth can count to infinity (he's done it twice). Rajinikanth can act.

The last from this list of four, is not a famed Rajini joke, but in fact, something the makers of his next historical production, Kochadaiyaan, directed by daughter Soundarya R Ashwin, have had to assure the media about. That Thalaivar (leader), as he's fondly called by fanatic followers, will be acting, and performing his own stunts, is a vital piece of information to ease nerves twitching at the thought of 3D animation, which this Tamil film employs, overpowering Rajini's prowess.

Nothing overpowers Rajini. Not even MOCAP.

The story of 8th century Pandya king, Kochadaiyaan Ranadhiran , is the first Indian film to use Motion Capture technology (MOCAP). The technique combines human actors with computer-generated animation, the way it was done to create the blue, 10-foot-tall creatures at the heart of James Cameron's Avatar.

Actions of actors are recorded, and the information used to animate digital character models in 3D. When the process includes face and fingers, or captures subtle expressions, it's referred to as performance capture.

The most recent film to rely on MOCAP was Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Kochadaiyaan co-producer Dr Murli Manohar, says, Rajinikanth, dressed in a body suit, will perform while 80 cameras capture his every move.

"The idea is to enhance his performance, and construct visuals for a period piece that can't be created otherwise." It's far from that easy, though.

USbased firm, Giant Studios began experimenting with the technique in 1999 with Lord of the Rings. CEO Candice Alger says they use hundreds of thousands of lines of code to define the human skeleton of actors with scientifically accurate detail: bone length, density, connectivity, and rotation properties.

All these parameters are modified to mirror the appropriate skeletal set-up for any mechanism that needs to be animated. Filming takes place on a spare motion-capture stage called 'the volume'.

Actors dress in skin-tight bodysuits with reflective markers. Every movement is tracked by an army of fixed cameras, while a specialised headrig camera records the actor's face and eyes.

"When the actors perform on stage, by using a software, it's possible to translate their performance onto the digital characters that they are playing in real time. When Spielberg was making Tintin.

., the performers would act on stage and he could look into his moni tor and see the characters in the digital environment.

This helped him direct the film as if everything was happening as part of live action," she says. It's the technology Giant relied on to create digital doubles of soldiers storming the beaches in Flags of Our Fathers and the appearance of humans moving through snow and water in The Day After Tomorrow.

"When Soundarya said she wanted to direct this film, I decided to support her desire to immortalise her father," says Dr Manohar. A team of Indian technicians has been trained by MOCAP experts from Hollywood , and the digital labour for Kochadaiyaan is ex pected to roll out in London.

Three studios - Infinity, Im age Matrix, and VTR - are working in tandem to create a world of retro fantasy. The shooting will begin next month at Pinewood Studios, south west of London , where all James Bond movies are shot.

"We are attempting an audio-visual spectacle. Of course, it's going to be expensive but I will have a better idea of technology costs once we wrap up," Dr Manohar adds.

India's growing appetite for action and fantasy-centric films means investments in animation are unlikely to de rail. Sony Pictures released Tintin.

. in India six weeks before the US, and the film grossed Rs 21 crore in the first 17 days, making it the highest grossing animation film in India.

The country is a market not just for audiences but technicians too, with foreign producers outsourcing VFX to Indian studios. Accel Animation Studios in Thiruvananthapuram is the only one in the country to offer MO CAP services.

"We used MOCAP in bits in Enthiran. A more complex use may be attempted in Kochadaiyaan," says NR Panicker, chairman, Accel, who is awaiting the arrival of Paris-based director Fred Fougea, who intends to use Accel's facility for his next animated project, Why I Did Not Eat My Father.

An interesting debate surrounding MOCAP is one that questions whether it's acting or animation. Avatar bagged nine nominations but not a single one for its actors.

Alger says, "We don't believe it takes away from acting. In Tintin.

., Steven wanted the characters to be human and believable.

That's what happened." Trashing the contest, Spielberg said in an interview, it's a technique that creates an intimacy which only actors and directors who've worked in live theatre, have experienced.

Back home, the question, "Is Rajini really acting?" is one that we'd rather not dare to ask (less)

Says a source, "Prithvi is fluent in his mother tongue Tamil and of course English, but Hindi doesn't really come naturally to him. The script isn't too tough, considering the language is very colloquial, but yet there are times when he has to sit down for hours together to get the lines right.

" This apparently has resulted in the director taking out special rehearsal time for the actor. Adds the source, "Prithvi wants to get it absolutely right and he does not want to compromise on the language.

Though it is yet to be decided if his voice would be dubbed or not, he is giving it his best." Interestingly we hear that co-star Rani has been patient and is helping him out too.

"Rani makes fun of him and his accent sometimes. They have become quite friendly though.

" This undoubtedly is a dream entry for the star into the world of Hindi cinema, considering not many South actors apart from Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan, Mohanlal and Madhavan have made it big in the Hindi cinema space. Adds the source, "When Prithviraj got this offer there was no reason for him to refuse.

He was being cast opposite Rani Mukerji and he has been planning to make the move from the South to Bollywood since a long time. So he is trying very hard to fit in.

" Tweet (less)

It was also earlier reported that Deepika was walking out of Race 2 because she was not happy with the film's constant change of schedule. Deepika Padukone to star against Rajinikanth in Kochadaiyaan According to a source, the reason Deepika had given for opting out -- that she was signing her first Hollywood film -- is not true.

The source reveals, "Deepika was already committed for Race 2 and had shot for it for a few days when she was offered a film opposite Rajinikanth. She was really keen to do the film but didn't have the dates for it.

As a result, she decided to opt out of Race 2 ." The source further adds, "Instead of telling the truth, her manager told the Race 2 producer that Deepika had a Hollywood film offer that she couldn't let go of and the dates were clashing with this film.

Though she was very apologetic about it, still it was very unprofessional of her to opt out of a film mid-way. Rameshji had let her go without creating any scene.

It was later found that the actress opted out for the Rajnikanth film and not for any Hollywood film." "Her manager Anirban said that she has bagged a big Hollywood film and it's a lifetime opportunity for her.

So, we had to let her go." Apparently the southern actress' departure has caused a lot of mess for the makers," said angry Taurani.

"We have to immediately look for her replacement and re-shoot her portions all over again. She has not only caused inconvenience to us but also to her co-stars (which includes Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt) who had allotted their dates for the shoot," said Taurani.

The producer adds that this has resulted in huge monetary losses for them as the building of sets for their next schedule is already underway and the crew and the location were already booked. A source close to Deepika however categorically denies that she opted out of Race 2 for Rajini's film.

The source points out, "The shooting was constantly getting pushed back. She shot for only two days for two hours each.

They have wasted her dates for December and January. She hasn't left Race 2 because of Rajinikanth's film.

The film was supposed to be completed before September 2011. We have documentary proof of that.

Now, there is a fresh requirement of dates as new actors like Sanjay Dutt have been roped in. She cannot give them blanket dates because of her prior commitments.

" Taurani says, "It's a highly unprofessional behaviour. In my entire career of 28 films, I have never faced such a situation.

It's not done!" Reports are that Taurani is going to lodge a complaint against Deepika with the Cine & TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA). Other actors who went the Deepika way : Chitrangada left Krissh because of prior commitments to Sudhir Mishra's untitled next with Arjun Rampal and Mehrunissa .

Imran opted out of Punit Malhotra's next for Vishal Bhardwaj's Maatru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Vivek Oberoi left Shootout At Wadala for Bejoy Nambiar's David Kangana left Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children for Double Dhamaal Ajay Devgn left Maatru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola for Son Of Sardar Tweet (less)

The central character of the film will look exactly as Rajinikanth. Each shot in the film is actually shot with the superstar first and then the animation specialists work on it to bring a very satisfying natural look.

The film is a multilingual one and is being made in eighteen languages. Vijayalakshmi will be lending her personality to this animated movie as the superstar?s heroine.

Rajni?s fans would definitely be dying to watch his animated character in Sultan (less)

And it was for this little one that the family trip was organised. Yathra's tonsuring ceremony was performed at the Lord Venkateswara temple.

Rajnikanth's forthcoming project Robot , where he teams up with his Sivaji director Shankar and AR Rahman , will start by end of April. He might star in a Telugu film early next year as well.

The superstar will meanwhile be shooting for Kuselan in Chennai this month. WATCH: l IN PICS: Superstar Rajnikant was spotted at the Tirupati temple this weekend.

With him were his wife Latha, daughters Aishwarya and Soundarya, son-in-law Dhanush and grandson Yathra. And it was for this little one that the family trip was organised.

Yathra's tonsuring ceremony was performed at the Lord Venkateswara temple. Rajnikanth's forthcoming project Robot , where he teams up with his Sivaji director Shankar and , will start by end of April.

He might star in a Telugu film early next year as well. The superstar will meanwhile be shooting for Kuselan in Chennai this month.

WATCH: l IN PICS: (less)

Madhuri and Rajni have done Uttar Dakshin in 1987. TOI announced just a few days ago that when Rajni came calling to Mumbai for one night he did attempt to meet a few Bollywood stars.

A distributor says, "Besides casting Deepika Padukone and Sonu Sood from Mumbai, Rajni Sir was also keen to have Madhuri Dixit in Rana. However she turned down the offer.

She excused herself saying that she was missing her sons Arin and Raayan too much and wanted to fly back to the United States ." Rana as everyone knows has Rajni in a triple role.

Madhuri naturally would be cast opposite one of the older characters that Rajni is playing; whereas the 25-year-old Deepika will romance the younger character (less)