Thalapathy Vijay is currently in the midst of wrapping up the last stretch of his commitment to films before he embarks on a full-fledged career in politics. Ajith Kumar on the other hand, is recovering from a minor knee surgery he recently underwent to counter nerve swelling. Very few know that the two actors - whose fans have often gone into altercations with one another - were almost going to share screen space in a film.

Marudhamalai was supposed to star Thalapathy Vijay and Ajith Kumar

In a recent media interaction, Marudhamalai director Suraj opened up about what his initial vision for the 2007 film had been. This namely included having Thalapathy Vijay and Ajith Kumar feature together in the project. However, though the preparations for the same had been done, it was not a vision that ultimately came to fruition.

The interaction saw Suraj reveal that the script had already been conveyed to Thalapathy Vijay with an advanced payment also having been made. The film would have incidentally made the actor's first cop role at the time. Suraj said, "Vijay opted out because of the film Sachein as his dates were with producer Kalaipuli S Thanu." For the unversed, Sachein was the remake of the Telugu film Neetho and went on to become a huge hit.

Why did Ajith Kumar opt out of the film?

Thalapathy Vijay's inability to be part of the project came from a clash of dates which could not be adjusted. Ajith Kumar's reasons for bowing out of the film however, were different. Suraj revealed how at the time, Ajith Kumar was filming for Kireedam which also featured him in a cop role - the actor simply did not want his on screen presence to appear repetitive to audiences. 

Suraj said, "He liked the script but since he was already doing a police role in Kireedam, he did not show much interest. Moreover, he was not too keen on working with the actor (Vadivelu) in the film."