Rajkumar
Santoshi,
one
of
Bollywood's
stylish
filmmakers,
has
still
not
given
up
his
hopes
on
directing
Superstar
Rajinikanth
in
the
role
of
Ravana
in
his
magnum
opus
Ramayan.
Santoshi
visited
Chennai
a
couple
of
days
ago
to
attend
a
new
film
launch
function
of
his
friend
Rajeshwar.
After
the
launch
function,
our
correspondent
asked
Santoshi
about
his
dream
project
Ramayan
and
his
long
time
efforts
to
direct
Rajini.The
director
replied
in
Tamil
(with
pucca
accent!).
"I'm
one
of
the
great
fans
of
late
legend
MGR
and
the
present
legend
Rajinikanth.
When
I
approached
Rajini
for
my
Ramayan,
he
was
very
busy
with
his
Shivaji.
At
that
time,
we
discussed
many
things
about
the
Ravana
character.
But
finally
Rajini
asked
me
to
wait
for
until
Shivaji
get
released.
After
that
Rajini
decided
not
to
appear
in
negative
roles
like
Ravana.
But
actually,
my
script
is
focused
on
the
positive
traits
and
disciplined
life
of
Ravana
and
what
factors
forced
him
to
imprison
Seetha."
The
director
said
further,
"Rajini
has
seen
most
of
my
films
and
he
seemed
very
impressed
with
this
character.
In
fact,
Rajini
has
read
extensively
about
Ravana
as
part
of
his
research
for
the
role!"
The
film
is
expected
to
commence
in
April
2009.
According
to
Santoshi,
till
that
there
is
much
time
for
Rajini
to
reconsider
his
decision.
"If
everything
goes
well,
Rajini
can
act
in
this
film.
I
believe
Rajini
can
uniquely
bring
out
the
multi-hued
character
to
life
and
he
is
the
only
capable
person
to
do
such
a
great
role." said
Santoshi.