Bangalore, Oct 5 (IANS) Superstar Rajnikanth is returning to Tamil cinema with a remake of the Kannada "Aaptha Mithra" currently running to packed houses in Karnataka.  

P. Vasu, who has made hits like "Mannan" and "Uzhaipaali", will direct the movie under the banner of Sivaji Productions.

"Aaptha Mithra" was in turn based on the Malayalam hit "Manichithrathaal" starring Mohan Lal and Shobhana. The latter won the national award for best actress for her role in the film. 

"Aaptha Mithra" has the late Soundarya essaying Shobhana's role and Kannada superstar Vishnuvardhan playing Mohan Lal's role.  

Vasu is happy with the opportunity to work with Rajnikanth again. He has done two Tamil films with the superstar who has been on a break for more than two and a half years now.

Vasu told IANS that he was trying to give a new dimension to the script and had only taken a few sequences from the Malayalam original. The Tamil remake would incorporate some changes, he said.

"Manichithrathaal" ran for over a year in Kerala though it did not have many commercial ingredients. Vasu though has produced a tight script for the Kannada version with many of such ingredients keeping Vishnuvardhan's image in mind. 

Rajnikanth had earlier announced a film titled "Jaggubai" to be directed by K.S. Ravikumar. However, the project did not take off, ostensibly because the script was not ready despite several sittings.

According to friends close to the star, Rajnikanth spent many days in his flat in Bangalore writing the sequences of the film but serious differences cropped up between him and Ravikumar about the script.  

There were also some protests by Muslim groups, offended by the film's advertisement design.

Young and successful directors like Hari and Dharni reportedly discussed some scripts with Rajnikanth but nothing came out of these sittings. 

The first indication that Rajnikanth was impressed with "Aaptha Mithra" came from an office-bearer of the Kannada Film Workers' Federation. He told the film's producer and actor Dwarakish that Rajnikanth had seen the film twice.

The film's second heroine, Prema, also told a newspaper as well as Vishnuvardhan that Rajnikanth had liked the film and sent a congratulatory message to her. 

Two weeks after the film's release, Vasu flew to Bangalore with G. Ramkumar, chief of Sivaji Productions and eldest son of the legendary Sivaji Ganesan. Ramkumar was so impressed with the film and the audience reaction that he immediately rang up Vishnuvardhan and congratulated him on his performance.

Sivaji's actor-son, Prabhu, will play the hero's friend and the heroine's husband. Ramesh Arvind essayed the character in the Kannada version.

A few days later, the film was screened in Chennai for leading personalities of the Tamil film industry, including Rajnikanth.  He then agreed to do the film.  

Rajnikanth, however, insisted that the title should not be focused on him.