Fahadh Faasil, a Malayalam performer, has made a name for himself in a number of industries, including Tamil cinema. In Rajinikanth's final movie, Vettaiyan, he was seen alongside FaFa, who received a lot of online abuse, which is unusual for the actor. Rajinikanth is currently preparing for his upcoming major release Coolie, which is directed by Lokesh Kanakaraj. Did Fahadh Faasil reject the Rajinikanth movie following his bad experience in Vettaiyan? Lokesh Kanakaraj provides more explanation...

Fahadh Faasil was contacted by Lokesh Kanakaraj about Coolie

Rajinikanth plays the lead in the forthcoming Tamil movie Coolie, which also features Malayalam performer Soubin Shahir. The Hollywood Reporter India recently interviewed Coolie filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj, who disclosed that he had not originally created the character for Soubin Shahir.

"I worked on the character for almost six months. I approached Fahadh Faasil, but his dates were not available," Lokesh stated, adding that he wanted to collaborate with another actor.

The Tamil director then contacted Soubin, who quickly agreed.

Fahadh Faasil played Patrick in Rajinikanth's action-packed 2024 movie, Vettaiyan. But the role was not well-received by many FaFa supporters since it offered him little opportunity to showcase his skills.

Rajinikanth consented to Coolie shortly after hearing the first story, Lokesh said. The highly anticipated Tamil action thriller also features Telugu actor Nagarjuna. Interestingly, Lokesh said that he had to work harder to get Nagarjuna to join the project than Rajinikanth.

On August 14, 2025, "Coolie" will be released in theaters, where it will compete against the Hindi action thriller "War 2," which stars Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR.

At the time that Soubin Shahir was replaced by Fahadh Faasil

In the Malayalam film Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, directed by Dileesh Pothan, Fahadh had previously taken Soubin Shahir's place. The director recently informed The New Indian Express that Soubin Shahir was initially considered for the part of the thief, but because Soubin was occupied with his directorial debut, the role was given to Fahadh.

One of Fahadh's most famous performances, which earned him a National Award for Supporting Actor, is this one.

However, since the most recent song Monica was released online, Soubin Shahir has been the name that has been linked to Coolie for the past few days.

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