We don’t know which point in time has to be called the beginning of the Endhiran journey. Some might suggest that the genesis of the idea was in the mind of writer Sujatha who put it down in the form of one of Tamil literature’s first sci-fi works. This has to be considered the origin of Endhiran. That would take us a long way back. But, even looking at it from a purely cinema perspective would take almost a decade back in time. Many years have passed since we first heard about the possibility of Endhiran (then Robot) becoming a movie. It was first announced in 2001 after Shankar had made his first direct Hindi film, Nayak, the remake of Mudhalvan. Robot was then set to star Kamal Haasan and Preity Zinta in lead roles. But, one guesses that Indian cinema was not yet ready to carry off such an ambitious project at that point of time. So, Robot was shelved (forever, some thought) and Shankar moved on to Boys.