Since the time director Atlee was seen sitting next to Shah Rukh Khan at an IPL match in Chepauk stadium, rumours were swirling that the 'Badshah of Bollywood' would be seen in the filmmaker's next. It now appears that not only will the actor be appearing in the film, but he is, in fact, the main villain of the film and will be squaring off against Vijay.

According to Filmfare, "SRK is the main villain who comes in the picture only towards the climax. He has a good 15 minutes odd role, fighting Vijay. The makers wanted a leading face from the Hindi film industry to shoot for the role and when Atlee approached Shah Rukh for it, he agreed in principle to do it. It's a four-five day shoot and the team is figuring whether to film the scenes in Chennai or in Mumbai itself."

This will be Shah Rukh's second film in Tamil, after his debut in the Kamal Haasan-directed Tamil-Hindi bilingual Hey Ram in 2000.

Thalapathy 63 is Atlee's third collaboration with Vijay. The film is a sports drama, which has the Sarkar actor playing a football coach. Starring Nayanthara as the female lead, the untitled film also features Indhuja, Jackie Shroff, Kathir, Vivekh, and Yogi Babu. Produced by Archana Kalapthi under the banner of AGS Entertainments, it has music by AR Rahman.