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As promo of Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan movie drops, everyone's asking who's the villain
Movie starring the two Indian screen legends will be directed by Nelson Dilipkumar
- PUBLISHED: Sun 22 Feb 2026, 11:41 AM UPDATED: Sun 22 Feb 2026, 1:11 PM
It can't bigger than this in Indian cinema. The magnum opus of magnum opuses is here, featuring the reunion of Indian silver screen legends Kamal Haasan and superstar Rajinikanth. Official confirmation arrived in a promotional video.
The movie, tentatively titled KH*RK, will be directed by Nelson Dilipkumar as Khaleej Times had previously reported, with Red Giant Movies bankrolling the production. Anirudh Ravichander, Rajinikanth's nephew who had composed for tentpoles such as Jawan, Devara, Coolie, Vikram and Jailer, will be this movie's music director.
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KH*RK is expected to be a light-hearted one, in line with the director's brand of film-making, as both the actors were reportedly keen on it. Filming is expected to begin soon.
A humorous promo video that released a day ago in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi sees Kamal and Rajini match each other in terms of their style quotient. As the two walk side by side into a retro Mercedes, Anirudh and Nelson pop up behind when Kamal asks them: "Who's the hero?"
And that's a question viewers and fans have been asking too. Some are speculating that one of the two actors may get to play the baddie, just like Rajini did in Bharathiraja's 16 Vayathinile (1977), where Kamal and Sridevi were the lead pair.
Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan appeared together in landmark films in the '70s such as Apoorva Ragangal, Moondru Mudichu, and Pathinaru Vayathinile. They last starred in full-fledged roles alongside each other was the 1979 romantic comedy Ninaithale Inikkum, directed by K Balachander, who was mentor to both the actors. Kamal appeared in a cameo in Rajini's Thillu Mullu (1981), while the two were cast in Amitabh Bachchan's Geraftaar (1985).
Who is Nelson Dilipkumar?
Nelson, who has today carved a niche for himself starting from nothing, might know a thing or two about directing screen legends.
His debut movie as director was scrapped in 2010. After that, he went back to TV and doing various odd projects before landing his first project.
In 2018, he debuted with Kolamavu Kokila, a dark comedy crime film starring Nayanthara, in which a working woman takes to smuggling contraband—and pits her rivals together—to save her ailing mother. An unconventional plot, wry humour and performances by its cast made it a critical and commercial success. Kolamavu Kokila was remade in Hindi as Good Luck Jerry, with Jahnvi Kapoor in the lead.
A year later, Nelson followed that up with Doctor, starring his long-time associate Sivakarthikeyan and an equally unconventional plot. The movie avoided the cliches of commercial cinema and turned out to be a hit.
In 2022, he moved up a notch by helming Beast, starring Thalapathy Vijay and Pooja Hegde, which was a box office success but criticised by critics for a predictable plot.
The next year, he got to direct Rajinikanth in Jailer (2023), an action comedy that follows the travails of a retired police official in search of his missing son, also an upright police officer. Not only did the movie win rave reviews, it was also a commercial success. According to the Indian box office tracker Sacnilk, Jailer netted nearly Rs 6.5 billion (Dh 250 million approximately) globally and was one of the year's biggest Indian grossers.
