Around Rajinikanth's 71st birthday earlier this month, there was a strong buzz about a new movie announcement of the actor's. It was said that Rajinikanth and Sun Pictures are uniting once again after Annaatthe but no official confirmations were made. Now it is being buzzed that this project will likely be directed by Nelson Dhilipkumar.

Nelson is awaiting the release of Beast with Sun Pictures and it remains to be seen if or not he will end up directing Thalaivar 169. Previously AGS Entertainment and director Desingh Periyasamy were associated with Thalaivar 169 but they were said to have opted out over budget.  

Currently, besides Nelson Dhilipkumar directors like Karthik Subbaraj, Pandiraj and even KS Ravikumar have been linked to Thalaivar 169.