Superstar Rajinikanth's recent movie 'Annaathe' in spite of mixed reviews has reportedly found its place on top as one of the highest collecting films of the year. The film directed by Siruthai Siva and produced by Sun Pictures had music by D. Imman and the ensemble cast of Rajini, Keerthy Suresh, Nayanthara, Khushbu, Meena, Soori, Pandiaraja, Livingstone, Prakash Raj and Jagapathy Babu.

There is huge curiosity amongst Rajini fans as to what would be his next film after 'Annaathe'. It has been reported that the directors who have narrated scripts to the Thalaivaar are Desingu Periyasamy, Karthik Subbaraj, Pandiraj, Venkat Prabhu and K.S. Ravikumar.

Meanwhile reliable sources have revealed that popular Bollywood filmmaker R. Balki recenlty met Rajini and narrated a story to him which impressed him instantly. It is said that the evergreen legend who turned 71 this month is keen to work in this pan Indian subject and this could well be 'Thalaivar 169' if all goes well.

R. Balki who is a Tamilian by birth is one of the most sought after Bollywood filmmakers who has delivered the super hit films with Amitabh Bachchan namely 'Cheeni Kum', 'Paa', and Shamitabh. He has also worked with Akshay Kumar in 'Padman' and 'Mission Mangal and is currently directing the Dulquer Salmaan starrer 'Chup: Revenge Of The Artist.' It is worth mentioning that Dhanush worked with the director in 'Shamitabh' which was his second film in Hindi after 'Raanjhanaa'.

The same sources say that R.Balki is keen to work with his favorite music composer Ilayaraja in his Rajini project. If this project materializes then Ilayaraja will be composing the music for Rajinikanth after 28 years. The combo's last film was 'Veera' which released in the year 1994.