It was reported in these columns some time back that Nayanthara had been approached by ace director Maniratnam to play a significant role (not that of the heroine) in his upcoming film titled Kadal. Nayan, when sounded by the director, reportedly replied that she was making the ‘necessary adjustments’ in her call-sheet diary to star in the film and requested the director to ‘wait’.Nayanthara’s presence in the film would give it the much-needed fillip at the box-offce as the film has a couple of newcomers debuting as the lead pair. Gautham, son of veteran actor Kathick, and Tulasi, younger daughter of yesteryear’s popular actress Radha, have been paired opposite each other in the film. Tulasi has stepped into the shoes of popular Tamil-Telugu actress Samantha, who is not part of the film now.
‘Action king’ Arjun and erstwhile ‘teenage hearthrob’ Arvind Swamy are also playing significant roles in the film. Swamy, who looked handsome in the director’s earlier films in Thalapathy, Roja and Bombay, has now gone bald and sports a considerale paunch. In all probability, Nayanthara might be paired opposite Arjun, it is reported.Sources very close to the actress reveal on condition of anonymity that Nayan is wondering whether to accept the offer or not: till now, she has only been playing the heroine’s roles in films and not any character-driven roles. She is apprehensive whether she’d be branded as a ‘character artiste’ if she took up Maniratnam’s offer.
