Thuppakki lesser-known facts: Not Thalapathy Vijay, Akshay Kumar was AR Murugadoss' first choice

Thuppakki is one of the biggest hits in Tamil superstar Thalapathy Vijay's career. But, did you know that Vijay was not the first choice to play the army officer Jagadish? In a recent interview, director A.R. Murugadoss revealed that he originally wrote the screenplay of Thuppakki for Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, before it was adapted for Vijay.

According to Murugadoss, Akshay was impressed with the script and even blocked his dates for the project. "I didn't do Thuppakki for Vijay sir. It's one of the reasons why it was so fresh (at the time) in his career. First I did it for a hero, and then I developed it. Later, I pitched it to Akshay Kumar sir in Hindi. He even okayed the script. But, when there was a delay in starting the project, I began its production in Tamil," Murugadoss told Galatta Plus.

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The decision turned out to be a wise one, as Thuppakki went on to become a massive success in Tamil, with Vijay's portrayal of an army officer winning critical acclaim and box office success.

Thuppakki revolves around a soldier who returns home on a short leave. While he is there, he discovers a deadly plan to carry out a series of bomb blasts in the city, and he races against time to prevent the terrorists from executing their nefarious plan.

Earlier, Murugadoss also revealed that after making it in Tamil, he had thought of remaking it in Telugu with superstar Mahesh Babu. "When Vijay sir signed the film, he said he wanted to foray into the Telugu market. That's why we also released it in Telugu," Murugadoss had revealed earlier.

Murugadoss later went onto remake Thuppakki in Hindi as Holiday with Akshay. And it also became a big hit at the box office.

Murugadoss nurtures the idea of making a sequel to Thuppakki. The director is now in process of finalising his project with actor Sivakarthikeyan. The talks are in the final stage. He's now busy promoting his latest production venture, August 16, 1947 .