This image was posted on Instagram by Radhika Apte
New Delhi:
After starring opposite Bengali legend Soumitra Chatterjee in the short film
Ahalya, actress Radhika Apte will be Tamil superstar Rajinikanth's heroine in his next film.
A report in the
Hindustan Times quoted the 29-year-old actress as saying, "It will take some time to sink in. I don't think there is anybody bigger than Rajini sir. And the director, Pa Ranjith, is exceptionally good. So I was extremely thrilled that it has worked out. And I am super excited to finally meet Rajinikanth."
Radhika, whose CV includes several southern language films, is the fourth Bollywood actress to be cast opposite Rajinikanth after Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in
Enthiran, Deepika Padukone in
Kochadaiiyaan and Sonakshi Sinha in
Lingaa.
Last month, news agencies reported that Radhika was in talks for the part. "Radhika has been approached to play the leading lady, but nothing has been finalised yet. The first round of talks has happened," a source from the film's unit told news agency IANS.
The untitled film, directed by the two-film-old Pa Ranjith, is Rajinikanth's 159th movie and will begin filming in Malaysia this month.
This is Rajinikanth with his director:
Radhika Apte, meanwhile, has notched up several successes this year apart from
Ahalya. She appeared in
Badlapur and
Hunterrr and has
Manjhi: The Mountain Man coming up.