Jackie Shroff to play the baddie in Vijay's Thalapathy 63?

Ace Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff, who was last seen in Tamil investigative thriller Maayavan directed and produced by CV Kumar, has been signed to play a key role in Vijay's highly-anticipated sports drama Thalapathy 63. The film is being directed by Atlee and bankrolled by Kalpathi S Aghoram's AGS Entertainment. Sources say Jackie Shroff will lock horns with Vijay in the film as the antagonist, who holds a prominent post in the football association in India. 

Two weeks back, the film's creative producer Archana Kalpathi put the Independence Day release date rumors of Thalapathy 63 to rest as we had earlier reported. When the film was launched this year, the makers released an official statement saying that Thalapathy 63 would see the light of day on Diwali 2019 and the film's release date is still the same. 

Thalapathy 63 stars Vijay in the lead role and marks the former's third consecutive collaboration with the latter after two blockbusters in Theri and Mersal, which amassed more than Rs 250 crore in worldwide theatrical revenue. In fact, Thalapathy 63 would be Vijay's third successive Diwali release after Mersal and Sarkar, which also turned out to be a massive blockbuster worldwide. 

Lady Superstar Nayanthara plays the lead actress in Thalapathy 63, marking her reunion with Atlee after his directorial debut Raja Rani and with Vijay after Prabhu Deva directorial Villu, which tanked at the ticket window. Yogi Babu, Kathir, Anandraj form the supporting cast of Thalapathy 63. AR Rahman has been roped in to compose the music for the project. Nayanthara's portions in the film have been shot in the Chennai city in the past few days.