‘Was Willing To Wait for 3 Years’: Rajinikanth Wished To Cast Aishwarya Rai In Padayappa

Last Updated:December 09, 2025, 14:58 IST

Rajinikanth revealed he wanted Aishwarya Rai to play Neelambari in Padayappa and was ready to wait years for her, but she wasn’t interested, leading to Ramya Krishnan’s casting.

Rajinikanth revealed he wanted Aishwarya Rai to play Neelambari in Padayappa.

Rajinikanth’s 1999 hit film Padayappa is set to re-release in theatres, and ahead of it, Rajinikanth revisited the casting process of the film and how he wanted to cast Aishwarya Rai in the role of Neelambari but soon realised her disinterest in the movie.

In the video that Rajinikanth shared, he spoke about his wish to cast Aishwarya and said, “We wanted Aishwarya Rai to do the character of Neelambari. We tried to reach out to her after a lot of difficulties. If she had said yes to the movie, I was willing to wait for even 2–3 years because that character was like that. It was imperative for that role to click, but we heard that she was not interested. Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and several names were considered. But we were looking for that power in the heroine’s eyes to pull off Neelambari. We wanted an arrogance in the character, and it was Ravikumar who suggested Ramya Krishnan’s name.”

The 1999 hit film Padayappa was written by none other than the superstar Rajinikanth himself. Revealing how he took inspiration for the Neelambari character from the character of Nandini in Kalki’s popular Tamil literary novel Ponniyin Selvan, Rajinikanth explained, “It is close to my heart. I love Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan and wanted to do a subject revolving around the Nandini character… and the result was Padayappa. I suggested the title, but its director, K. S. Ravikumar, was not convinced… but I urged him to go ahead.”

Interestingly, Aishwarya Rai portrayed Nandini in Mani Ratnam’s two-part film Ponniyin Selvan (2022), which was inspired by the epic.

Directed by K. S. Ravikumar, Padayappa went on to achieve cult status over the years, largely driven by Ramya Krishnan’s unforgettable portrayal of Neelambari. At the time of its release, the film emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film, setting new benchmarks for the industry. As the iconic Tamil film celebrates its 25th anniversary, Rajinikanth has also officially confirmed that a sequel is in the works.

On the work front, Rajinikanth was last seen in Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie (2025), which featured Nagarjuna Akkineni, Upendra, Shruti Haasan, Sathyaraj and others in key roles, along with a special extended cameo by Aamir Khan.

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