A few years back, actor Sathyaraj was reportedly approached by director Shankar who asked the veteran actor to play Rajni’s villain in “Sivaji: The Boss”. In his characteristic and sarcastic manner, Sathyaraj refused to play the role and even added a rider that he would do so provided Rajni played his villain in his next film.
Sathyaraj started off as a small-time and villain actor in the mid-eighties and graduated to doing hero’s roles only in the early nineties. He had played villain to superstar Rajni in many films in the past including “Naan Sigappu Manithan”, “Thambikku Endha Ooru”, etc. Shankar’s approaching Sathyaraj was only a normal thing but Sathyaraj’s reactions made it look abnormal.
The role was ultimately done by Suman, who had also starred along side superstar in films like “Thee” in early eighties. In fact, “Sivaji” opened the door for Suman’s re-entry in Tamil films. This time, when Shankar approached Sathyaraj to play a pivotal role in the Tamil remake of “3 Idiots”, Sathyaraj immediately agreed to it.
Reports say that Sathyaraj has been paid quite a huge ‘sum’ to do the role!.