Kannada filmmaker got Coolie actors Nagarjuna and Rajinikanth together on set first

Coolie, which releases in theatres world wide on August 14, 2025, marks couple of firsts for Telugu star Nagarjuna. It’s his first onscreen collaboration with Superstar Rajinikanth and his debut as an antagonist. Interestingly enough, Nagarjuna and Rajinikanth were together on the set of a film many decades ago. Back in 1991, Kannada filmmaker-actor V Ravichandran made one of the earliest pan-Indian projects, Shanti Kranti, a film that he shot simultaneously in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi.

Nagarjuna and Rajinikanth played the same role

Written, directed and produced by Ravichandran, Shanti Kranti had Rajinikanth in the lead of the Tamil and Hindi versions, while Nagarjuna did the same role in Telugu. Ravichandran, of course, led the Kannada original. In a chat with his Coolie co-star Shruti Haasan in a promotional segment of the film Coolie Candid, Nagarjuna reminisced about the time that they did Shanti Kranti. “We’ve been on the same set; he’d do a scene in Hindi and then Tamil, and then I would do the same one in Telugu. Back then, I was a newcomer and he was already a superstar,” said Nagarjuna, indicating that he was in awe of everyone on set and hence did not speak much to anyone.

Now, though, while working on Coolie, things were a lot different, he says. “We had a lot of very nice conversations. First thing he asked me was how I remain calm and wondered if I ever take any tension,” said Nagarjuna, adding that Rajinikanth also quizzed him about how he maintains his rather youthful looks. “The first day when we met on set, he said that if he’d known I’d look like this, he wouldn’t have let the team put me in the film,” the actor said, adding that he thanked Rajinikanth for the compliment.

Nagarjuna, who said that he thoroughly enjoyed playing the film’s baddie Simon, also revealed that director Lokesh Kanagaraj had to give him as many as 7 narrations before he decided to give it a go. “The story starts with Simon, irrespective of how Lokesh has presented it later on. At the first narration, which I liked, he only had the story till the interval point. But where does it go from there? Why am I there? Even a bad guy needs a reason to be in the film,” said the actor, who eventually took up the role.

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Lokesh’s brief to him, he adds, was to be the same character from Rakshakan, including the longer hair, but an evil version of it. “He wanted me to enjoy being evil,” said the actor, for whom playing antagonist was extremely liberating.

FAQs

Q. How much was Nagarjuna paid to be in Coolie?

A. According to reports, Nagarjuna was paid Rs 10 crore to play antagonist Simon. 

Q. Who all are on the cast of Coolie?

A. Rajinikanth leads the cast, which also includes Sathyaraj, Nagarjuna, Soubin Shahir, Shruti Haasan, Upendra, among many others.