Bollywood girl for Rajinikanth!

Ever since Soundarya Rajinikanth officially announced that her father, Superstar Rajinikanth, will be doing Kochadaiyaan, a motion capture animation film, with her, the industry has been curious about who will be paired opposite him in it.

While the buzz has indicated that Anushka will be playing the female lead, a reliable source informs us that the filmmakers are looking to cast a leading Bollywood heroine for the same.

The source says, "Anushka was one of the frontrunners for K S Ravikumar's Rana, and, until now, she's not in the picture as far as Kochadaiyaan goes. Soundarya and KSR, who is scripting the film, are looking to cast a top actress from Bollywood opposite Rajini. The two, and the Bollywood production house that's co-producing the film, are currently in talks with a couple of leading heroines, and an official confirmation should be out by the end of this week."

We also hear that the film is partly inspired by the life of the Pandya king, Kochadaiyan Rana Dheeran. While KSR maintains that the film is a fictional account, but will have a small reference to history, he says, "'Kochadaiyaan' is the name of Lord Shiva. 'Ko' means king, and the word means 'king with long, curly chada mudi (mane)'. We can't reveal much details at this point of time."