This top actor not in Simbu's Maanaadu - fans disappointed!

A film that has been long-awaited, Maanaadu, was announced initially last year and would see the first-time collaboration of Venkat Prabhu and Simbu with music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Producer Suresh Kamatchi was revealed to be bankrolling the political mass entertainer under his V House Productions banner with Kalyani Priyadarshan playing the female lead.

With production yet to kick-off on Maanaadu, there have been rumors floating around for a while stating Kannada superstar Kiccha Sudeep was being eyed to play the role of the antagonist opposite Simbu. As the reports of Sudeep apparently coming on board Maanaadu gaining steam, the popular star took to his Twitter page to deny his participation in the film. Sudeep is known among Tamil fans for starring as the villain in Samantha's Naan Ee, 'Thalapathy' Vijay's Puli, the recently-released Salman Khan starrer, Dabangg 3 while also playing a major supporting role in the Baahubali films. 

Apart from Simbu and Kalyani Priyadarshan, it was revealed that iconic Tamil director Bharathiraja too had been cast in Maanaadu, which is expected to roll into production in early 2020. Fans have been waiting with bated breath for STR to begin filming his portions on the film, which many are speculating could be a game-changer in his career as his previous films like Manmadhan, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam.