The shooting of the Southern superstar Rajanikanth’s period film ‘Rana’, obviously his first in the genre, began at the AVM studios amid many expectations today.

Coming after his mega hit ‘Endhiran-The Robot’, 60-year-old Rajanikanth will don three roles representing three generations in this film that is being made with a historical background.

Bollywood damsel Deepika Padukone is playing the lead role opposite the young Rajanikanth and the movie stills showing Rajani as a warrior have already generated a lot of enthusiasm among fans and cine goers.

K.S. Ravikumar, who has earlier directed Rajani’s hit movies ‘Padayappa’ and ‘Muthu’ is directing this film. It might be mentioned that ‘Muthu’ ran to packed houses in Japan earning Rajani thousands of fans.

Rana is being produced by Eros International in collaboration with Soundarya Rajanikanth with an unprecedented budget. Music is by AR Rehman. “The movie, with stunning visual effects, will take Indian cinema to the next level,” said Ravi Kumar on the occasion.