Some combinations are sensational. A Kamal-Rajini-Shankar combo would have been beyond sensational. It would have redefined sensation for us. Alas! That was not to be. Dashing the hopes of millions of cine-goers, Kamal said no to Shankar's offer. Thus, Rajinikanth was deprived of a genius of an actor as his villain in 2.0.

Many of us wondered why a good friend of Rajini should have declined the scintillating offer from his Bharateeyudu director. Some said it got to do with Kamal's principle to not enact a villain's role opposite a contemporary superstar at this stage of career. A section of the Telugu mass media has reported that Kamal and Rajini had decided decades ago to not act together after attaining stardom. Well, all this turns out to be untrue.

During their early days the two doyens of Tamil cinema acted in several films together and at some point decided to not act together unless one of them is the producer. The Universal Star didn't want to break this unwritten agreement with his long-time friend.

Kamal has also been quoted as saying that with both the actors in a film, there won't be budget left for other things.