South superstar Rajinikanth, who was last seen in Karthik Subbaraj's Petta, is all set to feature next in AR Murugadoss's upcoming cop drama Darbar. The actor kickstarted the film's shoot with a Mumbai schedule in mid-April and wrapped it up on May 14. During the schedule, Rajinikanth filmed an intense action scene with Prateik Babbar and fans believed that he would be starring as the main antagonist. However, as per a report in a leading daily, we now hear that Suniel Shetty has been roped in to play the villain and Prateik would be seen as his son.

The daily quoted a source as saying, "Anna, a corporate giant, will take on Thalaivar's IPS officer. He joins the team during the second schedule which starts in the next few days in Mumbai and will be there all through." What's more? The actor is trying to bulk up for his role in Darbar. "The antagonist's track has an emotional back-story also featuring Rajinikanth, which makes the revenge all the more exciting. There will be several confrontation scenes between the duo in the film which climaxes with a stylized, larger than life action scene," added the source.

RECOMMENDED READ: Straight form the sets: Rajnikanth shoots for his upcoming film Darbar in Mumbai

Produced by Lyca Productions, Darbar also stars Nayanthara, Yogi Babu, Prakash Raj and Dalip Tahil in pivotal roles. The film is expected to wrap up by August this year and is slated to release on January 17, 2020.

Meanwhile, Suniel is returning as a villain after a hiatus of 15 years and he has an electic mix of films ahead. He recently wrapped Priyadarshan’s multi-lingual period drama
Marakkar: The Lion of Arabian Sea, co-starring Mohanlal. Apart from that, Suniel will also make his Kannada film debut with Sudeep starrer Pailwaan and he reportedly has another Telugu project in his hand. That's not all! The actor might also be seen in Hera Pheri 3, co-starring Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal, although nothing has been confirmed yet.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)