We had previously reported that Santosh Sivan, who handled the camera for last year's Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, will be the cinematographer for Rajinikanth's next, directed by AR Murugadoss. Now, we hear from trusted sources that Nayanthara, whose last release was Viswasam, and Keerthy Suresh, who was last seen in Sarkar, are in talks to play the female leads opposite the Superstar in the film.

The pre-production work for the upcoming project is in process and a source states that the film will go on floors in March. Lyca Productions is said to be bankrolling this film -- making it their third film starring Rajini, after Kaala and 2.0. Anirudh Ravichander, who worked with the actor in Karthik Subbaraj's Petta, recently confirmed in an interview that he will score the music for Thalaivar 166 also. 

Nayanthara, who has previously shared screen space with Rajinikanth in Chandramukhi, Sivaji (Ballelakka song) and Kuselan, has several films like Airaa, Kolayuthir Kaalam, Mr Local, Thalapathy 63, Sye Raa (Telugu), and Love Action Drama (Malayalam) in different stages of production.

Keerthy Suresh, on the other hand, has Marakkar (Malayalam) and a yet-to-be-titled Tamil-Telugu women-centric bilingual in the pipeline. Interestingly, her mother, Menaka, had played the female lead opposite Rajinikanth in the 1981 film, Netrikkan.