‘Mudhalvan’ to ‘Singam’: When Thalapathy Vijay said ‘no’ to these blockbuster films

Thalapathy Vijay started his acting career as a child artist in the 1984 film Vetri and was reportedly paid just Rs 500 for the film. He is currently one of the highest paid actors in the Hindi film industry and is said to be earning around Rs 200 crore for his next film titled ‘Jana Nayagan’. Over his career of over three decades, Vijay has produced many hit films and gained a huge fan base across the world. But what makes him unique is that he also turned down many successful films. Some were rejected due to date issues, while others did not reach out to him at the time. Here’s a look at the blockbuster films Vijay missed during his career.

After Rajinikanth reportedly rejected the film Mudhalvan, director S. Shankar approached Vijay for the lead role. However, as Vijay had doubts about the story and politics associated with the film, he withdrew from the project. The role later went to Arjun Sarja, and the film became a cult classic.

Vijay was reportedly offered the National Award-winning film ‘Autograph’. Director Sheeran later decided to play the lead role himself after Vijay and a few other actors rejected the project. The emotional drama became one of the most appreciated Tamil films of its time.

Director N. Linguswamy is said to have first approached Vijay for Run. However, the actor rejected the offer for unknown reasons. The film later starred R. Madhavan and became a huge hit. It was later remade in Hindi as well.

A few years after Run, Linguswamy again approached Vijay for the film Sandakozhi. But Vijay reportedly did not feel convinced with the role and rejected the film. The film later went to Vishal and became one of the biggest Tamil hits of 2005. The film played a major role in building the action hero image of Vishal in Tamil cinema.

Director Hari reportedly first approached Vijay for the film ‘Singam’. However, Vijay was unable to take up the project due to personal reasons. The role later went to Syria, and the film became one of the biggest hits of 2010. Due to its success, a number of remakes and sequels were made in different languages, such as Hindi and Punjabi.

KV Anand, the director of Anegan, preferred to cast Vijay in the lead role in his film. But Vijay was already busy with films like ‘Jilla’ and ‘Kaththi’, making it difficult to allocate dates. Reports say that Vijay liked the script and suggested Dhanush for the role. The film later became a successful romantic film.