Yes, it was hard to believe then, when Rajinkanth roared at box office with his sci-fi, action flick Endhiran (Robot) in 2010, and it’s also hard to believe now, when you actually see Rajini Sir in a lean, muscular avatar posing like an angry Lord Shiva in the first poster of Kochadaiyaan.

Now you know what to expect from the film, which is going to be India’s first performance capture photorealistic film. This technology was first used in the James Cameron-directed 3-D wonder Avatar. In Kochadaiyaan, Rajinikanth will play an eighth century legendary Pandya king named Kochadaiyaan Ranadhiran who was known for his heroism.

However, many of Rajinikanth’s fans might be thinking of his much-talked about film Rana, which was announced last year with Deepika Padukone in lead. Despite several failed attempts to restart Rana last year, Rajinikanth appeared in the Bollywood science-fiction film Ra.One in a cameo appearance alongside Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Since last year was not good for the superstar in terms of his health, it was decided that Rana would be shelved to make way for a new project titled Kochadaiyaan with different starcast.

The movie features Sneha, Sarath Kumar, Shobhana, Aadhi, Jackie Shroff in the cast, and reports also suggest that Katrina Kaif will play the main lead. A R Rahman will give music to Kochadaiyaan, while cinematography will be by Rajiv Menon. Here is the first look of the film Kochadaiyaan starring Rajinikanth: