After the success of Robot, the legend has developed a fixation for the letter R; signs Rekha for Rana

It seems Rajnikanth has become a little superstitious.

The legendary actor, who has developed a fixation for the letter 'R', flew down to Mumbai early this month to convince Rekha, whose name starts with the 'lucky letter', to star in his next film Rana.

This zeal for the letter developed after the astounding success of his film Robot.

Says a source, "Rajni considers Rekha and the letter 'R' lucky for him. Robot is his biggest hit to date. And he was keen that the title of his new film starts with the letter 'R'.

Coincidently, his director in Rana is named Ravi (K Ravi Kumar). Rajnikanth wanted his co-star too to be someone with 'R'."

When he heard that Rekha had some reservations about her role in the film, which has Deepika Padukone as the leading lady, Rajnikant decided to fly down to Mumbai, to meet the actress personally.

Says the source, "Rajni assured Rekha that her role would not overlap with Deeepika's.

Rajni has a triple role in Rana. Two of them are full-fledged parts while the third is a cameo. While Deepika is paired with the 'young' Rajni, Rekha will co-star opposite the father Rajnikanth in a different time zone."

Rekha finally agreed to do the role after a lot of persuasion. The shooting of the film will start in Chennai from April.

The film will also be made in Tamil and Telugu. "Rekha insists on speaking her own lines and is also mastering Telugu. The actress who herself is a big Rajnikanth fan, is very excited about her role, " said the source.

Rekha with Rajni
In the past, the duo has starred in Bhrashtachar, Phool Bane Angaaray and Bulandi.