Development

After completing Nayak: The Real Hero in 2001, Shankar announced a project with Kamal Haasan and Preity Zinta titled Robo,[1] to be produced by the now-defunct production company Media Dreams.[2][3][4] Despite, announcing the project, due to a lack of backing the project was cancelled and Shankar began work on Boys. In 2005, Shankar made another project, Anniyan, this was mistaken to be the renamed title for Robot.[5]

After a stupendous response from his previous project, Sivaji: The Boss, there were speculations regarding Shankar's next film. However Shankar stated that he was going to be involved with his production house, S Pictures for 3 months.[6] Several websites claimed that he was set to take his maiden Telugu language film with Chiranjeevi,[7] while others claimed that it was set to be with Mahesh Babu.[8] Ajith Kumar was also considered for the film and several sources reported this news as confirmed but Kumar claimed that he wasn't yet approached.[9]

On July 27th 2007, Shahrukh Khan was signed on to be the male lead of Robot and also the producer of the film.[10] An actress from South India, Divya Spandana, approached Shankar for a role but was rejected.[11]

However, in October 2007, Shah Rukh Khan and Shankar officially called off the project. Khan commented that the script was "half-baked" and "dull" in comparison to his other films at the time. Shankar commented that Rajnikanth had commented on Shankar being a "trusted" and "excellent" script writer. Thus the two weren't able to compromise on one another opinions.[12]

After further indications that either Ajith Kumar and Aamir Khan were set to sign up for the film, reports surfaced in early January 2008, that Rajnikanth has been roped in for the project