Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – As Padayappa is set to re-release in theatres, Rajinikanth shared a special video in which he retraces the journey behind his 1999 hit and explains how the casting of the film came about. In the video, Rajinikanth shared that he wanted to cast Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the role of Neelambari in the film. However, the actor soon learned of Aishwarya’s disinterest in the project.

Article continues below video Talking about the same, he said, “We wanted Aishwarya Rai to play the character of Neelambari. We tried to reach out to her after a lot of difficulties.

If she had said yes to the film, I would have been willing to wait even for 2-3 years because the character was so similar. It was important to click for that role – but we heard that she is not interested. Considered Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and many names.

But, we were looking for that strength in the heroine – and it was Ravikumar who suggested Ramya Krishnan.