Did you know Thala Ajith was first offered the lead role in 'Ko' opposite Karthika Nair?

After the script of K.V. Anand's 2011 blockbuster film Ko was done, he had begun scouting actors to play the lead role in his drama. Reports have it that Anand had approached almost all the actors in the industry and after a series of rejections, Jiiva was roped in to play the role of Ashwin Jayaraman, alongside Karthika Nair. Many fans might not be aware that Thala Ajith was also supposed to be approached to work in this flick, but eventually, that idea was shelved.

Ajith was selected to play the lead in Ko?

A report by Thandora Times mentioned that one of the producers had affirmed that they had a call sheet of Ajith Kumar. However,  K.V. Anand had voluntarily stated that it would not suit the mass level of Ajith’s stardom. After this, the makers had gone to approach Vikram and STR as well. While things were almost finalised between the team and STR, the actor at the end moment walked off. Meanwhile, Unnale Unnale actor Vinay, Narain and Ganesh Venkatram were also approached for the negative roles but they didn’t want to play them. After many changed decisions, actor Jiiva took up the script. The success of the movie was such that it went on to win more than 10 awards at different events. 

Apart from Jiiva and Karthika Nair, the movie also starred Piaa Bajpai, Achyuth Kumar, Prakash Raj, Bose Venkat, among others. It followed the story of how two newspaper employees unite to oust a corrupt establishment in order to build a smart campaign for an upcoming political party. Meanwhile, after Ko, director K.V. Anand began working with Suriya, Kajal Aggarwal, for his 2012 outing, Maattrraan. He last helmed Kaappaan, which garnered rave reviews.

Whereas for Thala Ajith, he was roped in for the 2011 hit, Mankatha, written and directed by Venkat Prabhu. Interestingly, it marked his 50th film in his career. Produced by Dhayanidhi Alagiri, Mankatha received praises from many. He will be next seen in Valimai, alongside Huma Qureshi, Kartikeya Gummakonda, Shivaji Guruvayoor, Pavel Navageethan, Yogi Babu, Gurbani Judge, Achyuth Kumar, and Sumithra, among others.

IMAGE: @_AJITHKUMAR_THALA INSTAGRAM