Salman Khan, Atlee's Rs 650-crore film postponed due to Rajinikanth? Here's what we know

After the blockbuster success of Shah Rukh Khan and Atlee's Jawan, the filmmaker was keen on making a two-hero film with Salman Khan and a south Superstar (either of Rajinikanth or Kamal Haasan) with Sun Pictures as the producer. However, as per recent reports, the film has been indefinitely postponed as the makers have not been able to finalise the second lead for the film, tentatively titled A6 as it is Atlee's sixth film as a director.

A source was quoted telling Pinkvilla, "A6 with Salman Khan was always planned as a two-hero project and the intent was to rope in two top names from the North and South to justify the mammoth budget of Rs 650 crore. While Salman Khan okayed the film, Atlee and Sun Pictures were confident to rope in either of Kamal Haasan or Rajinikanth for the film. The conversations with both the giants of Tamil cinema continued for over 6 months, but the things didn’t fall in place for multiple reasons."

The source further added, "While Kamal Haasan wasn’t too sure on playing the role of Salman Khan’s father in the film, Rajinikanth is committed to shoot for Coolie and Jailer 2 until the start of 2026. He is on the verge of green lighting another project post Jailer 2, which means his dates are blocked till 2026. After both the conversations fell through, Atlee and Sun Pictures were looking for options all across but couldn’t find an ideal replacement for Rajinikanth or Kamal Haasan."

The source even stated that makers even considered to rope in an international star with Salman Khan but even that didn't work out. It concluded, "Conversations were initiated with Slyvestor Stallone to play the parallel lead, but the financials didn’t fall into place. The team is still exploring options of casting other international names and the process will take longer than usual due to complexities of contracts and other barriers. After all the attempts, Atlee, Salman and Sun Pictures have decided to team up in the near future, as some films are designed in a way to work out only as a collaboration between the two industries - either North and South or India and Hollywood - and ambitious things often take time to materialise."

While Atlee and Salman Khan's has been put on backburner for now, the director will now move to another project featuring Allu Arjun in the lead. Before Jawan, Atlee has directed three action thriller blockbuster for Thalapathy Vijay - Theri (2016), Mersal (2017), and Bigil (2019), His debut film Raja Rani was a romantic comedy drama featuring  Arya, Jai, Nayanthara and Nazriya Nazim, and was released in 2013.