Folks,

All of us are aware of the announcement of Rajini's new movie - Rana and that it is going to be a period film where Rajini is going to play 3 roles and that Deepika Padukone is one of his heroines. This column/article that I am writing is just a figment of my imagination. I am a great Rajini fan and also a fan of animated movies. One of my best animated classics is "The Lion King". It was released in 1994 and it portrays the relationship between a dad and his son really well. "The Lion King" is also a musical on Broadway. I have always wanted someone to adapt "The Lion King" into Tamil with Rajini playing the lead roles. The moment I heard that Rana is going to be a period film with Rajini playing 3 roles, my imagination ran back many years and I wanted to share my thoughts on the cast of characters if Rana really was the adaptation of "The Lion King". Obviously folks who haven't seen "The Lion King" need to see it or "google" it to understand what I'm talking about but others would understand it clearly.

OK, going on to the cast of the imaginary- Rana: The Lion King

Rajini will play Mufasa (The father who is the original lion king), Simba (Mufasa's son- The hero of the movie who finally becomes king at the end of the movie. His name will be Rana in the adaptation) and Scar (The villain-Mufasa's evil brother who kills Mufasa and chases Simba away and becomes king). With Rajini's recent villain stints as Vettaiyan in Chandramukhi and Chitti- 2.0 in Endhiran, he is the only one who can pull off this character. That begs the question as to what role will Sonu Sood play as his name is doing the rounds as the villain in Rana. He can probably play one of the 3 "Hyena's" who is the evil henchman of Scar and who does all his dirty work. Deepika Padukone will play the role of Nala (Simba's childhood friend and eventual girlfriend/wife). There is scope for one more heroine who can play the role of Sarabi (Mufasa's wife and Simba's mother). I think Simran will be a good choice for this role as she has not yet acted with the Superstar and it will be a role similar in scope as her role in Varanam Aayiram. One of the other key characters is Rafiki the monkey (Advisor to Mufasa and the one who identifies Simba and reminds him of his identity and his duty) I originally had Sivaji Ganesan in mind for this role but since he is no more, I think Amitabh Bachchan would be the best person for this role. Remember Rajini's movies are no longer Tamil movies but Indian movies and key characters need to have a pan-Indian appeal.  Other characters are Timon and Pumba (Simba's friends). These can be played by Santhanam and Karunaas of Endhiran fame. Alternately K.S. Ravikumar can kick it up a notch and have Vivek and Vadivelu play these roles. There is also a role of a bird that plays Mufasa's assistant. Vivek or Vadivelu will be good for that role also. Anyway, enough of my imaginary Rana. I look forward to the original hitting the screens soon and I'm sure it will be awesome.