21 Aug – Indian star Rajinikanth is headed to Southeast Asia this September to film his upcoming movie, "Kabali". Talks of him coming to Malaysia to film his new movie started circulating sometime last May, and now it has been confirmed that the actor will indeed be filming in not only Malaysia but also Singapore. The Tamil movie, directed by Pa Ranjith, will also reportedly be filmed in other locations such as Hong Kong and Dubai. According to IndiaGlitz, the reason why the Southeast Asian countries were chosen as the main locations – about 50 percent of the movie will be shot in the two countries – was because of the Tamil labourers in both countries. Reportedly, the script contains the stories of the hardships faced by Tamil labourers who work on a contract basis in said countries.
Rajinikanth plays a mafia don in the movie, which GreatAndhra states as inspired by Jack Nicholson's character in "Departed". Once filming for "Kabali" is completed, the actor will be spending almost a year in Hyderabad next to film S. Shankar's "Robot 2". However, it is not confirmed whether "Kabali" will really end up as the movie's name as there is another movie of the same name, by director and producer Sivakumar, currently filming. Sivakumar claimed that the audio launch of his film took place years ago, according to Times of India, and he is 90 percent done with the filming of his "Kabali". Kalaipuli S. Thanu, the producer of the Rajinikanth-starrer, however, promised that the issue will be finalised soon.