8 Sep – Tamil superstar Rajinikanth recently admitted that he had actually wanted to make a guest appearance in Mani Ratnam's upcoming epic film, "Ponniyin Selvan". The "Annaathe" star, who appeared alongside Kamal Haasan at the trailer launch for the movie in Chennai, shared that he was refused by its filmmaker Mani Ratnam when he came up with the idea. "I asked Mani Ratnam to give me Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar. I said I'll do a special appearance. Mani asked me 'Do you want me to get bashed by your fans?' Anyone else would have agreed, but Mani didn't. That's Mani Ratnam," he said. Rajinikanth also added that he imagined his fellow colleagues like Kamal Haasan and Sridevi in the roles when he first read the story. He expressed, "I imagined Kamal as Arunmozhi Varman, Sridevi as Kundavai, Vijaykanth as Aditya Karikalan, Sathyaraj as Pazhuvettaraiyar. In a magazine, J Jayalalithaa had said Rajinikanth would be suitable for Vanthiyathevan. I was so happy. That's when I took the book to read. I went to Kalki's house and fell at his feet. What a story!" "Ponniyin Selvan is not about Arunmozhi Varman, it's about Nandini. It's Ponniyin Selvi. What a character! No one can see such characters these days. That's the inspiration for Neelaambari (played by Ramya Krishnan) in Padayappa," he added. The movie, starring Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Trisha, Karthii and Jayam Ravi, is based on the popular Tamil literary novel of the same name by Kalki Krishnamurthy. Part One of the movie is set for release on 30 September.