Vishal starrer Sandakozhi is one of the biggest hits in Tamil cinema. However, not many know that the film was first offered to Thalapathy Vijay, but he refused. Helmed by Lingusamy, the film marked the second film of Vishal, becoming the turning point of his career trajectory. Sandakozhi completed 18 years last week.

Why did Thalapathy Vijay turn down Sandakozhi?

During the interview with Behindwoods, the director Lingusamy revealed that Vijay was the initial choice and even the actor was quite impressed with the first half of the script. However, as soon as the director started narrating the second half of the film, he straight away refused to do the film. The film focused on Rajkiran's character, and the story had caste glorification.

On getting rejected by Vijay, the director then approached Vishal for the lead role, and the actor accepted. It became a hit and earned cult reviews from the critics. Opening up about his decision, the director said that now he feels Vishal was the right selection for Sandakozhi as the action and drama might not have worked out if he had another actor as the lead.

Did Thalapathy Vijay congratulate Lingusamy on the success of Sandakozhi?

The director revealed that Vijay congratulated him for the success of Sandakozhi and even praised Vishal as the right choice for the film. Apart from Vishal, the film also starred Meera Jasmine, Rajkiran, Lal, Raja, Suman Setty and Ganja Karuppu.

The film's success prompted the makers to make the sequel titled Sandakozhi 2. It released in 2018 but did not achieve the success level of the original film. Keerthy Suresh replaced Meera as the female lead. The film was also remade in Kannada as Vayuputra, starring Chiranjeevi Sarja and Aindrita Ray, in the lead roles.