Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth, who has been in Hyderabad for the production of his upcoming film Annaathe, cancelled its shoot today after a few crew members tested positive for COVID-19.
"Superstar Rajinikanth and other crew members have tested negative," the film's production studio, Sun Pictures, confirmed on Twitter.
The coronavirus infection in four crew members was detected during routine testing, it added.
The 70-year-old actor has been shooting for Siruthai Siva's Annaathe, which features four women in the lead -- Nayanthara, Keerthy Suresh, Khushbu and Meena -- since mid-December.
Sources indicate the entire crew was in a bio-bubble, and the shoot was scheduled to continue till mid-January.
One of India's highest paid actors, Rajinikanth had announced his decision to join politics earlier in December amid reports that he was reluctant in view of the coronavirus pandemic and his health after a renal transplant, which made him vulnerable to Covid.
He finally took the plunge on December 3 saying "it's now or never".
"I am ready to sacrifice my life for the Tamil people," he declared, adding he will announce his party's name on New Year's Eve and launch it in January, five months before the Tamil Nadu election.
The bus conductor-turned-actor's entry in politics after years of wait was welcomed, besides many others, by Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who is also the coordinator of AIADMK. Mr Panneerselvam had said he hoped for an alliance.
The AIADMK is one of the two poles of Tamil Nadu politics - the DMK being its rival. The party's chief MK Stalin had said he would react to the actor's political debut after he "floats his party and then announces its ideology".
The two parties will be keenly watching the moves of Rajinikanth's new outfit, which the actor said will follow "spiritual secular politics" with no caste or religion.
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