MUMBAI: South Indian film megastar Rajinikanth is to begin work on a new film, hoping to replicate the success of last year's record-breaking “Endhiran” (Robot). Eros International said shooting for “Rana” (Monarch) would get under way Friday in the southern city of Chennai, once the cast and crew had conducted a ritual “puja” or prayer ceremony. As well as the evergreen former Chennai bus conductor-turned-actor, the film will feature leading actress Deepika Padukone and music by the Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman, the studio said in a statement. The award-winning creative director Charles Darby, who worked on Hollywood blockbusters including “Titanic”, the Harry Potter series and “Minority Report”, will oversee special effects, it added. “Rana will be a live action magnum opus with Rajinikanth playing a triple role,” the studio said. The film, due out next year, will be in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu, following the successful formula of “Endhiran”, which collected 950 million rupees ($21m) in its opening weekend — an Indian box office record. “Endhiran”, a science-fiction fantasy, was touted as the most expensive Indian film ever made at 35 million dollars, but there was no indication of the budget for “Rana”.
