Coolie starring Rajinikanth in the lead is an upcoming action thriller that is all set to release in theaters on August 14, 2025. A multi-starrer film, Coolie has Telugu star actor Nagarjuna play a villain character named Simon to Rajinikanth's Deva. 

Nagarjuna is currently gearing up for the release of Sekhar Kammula's Kuberaa on June 20, 2025. While promoting the film with his director, the Telugu veteran opened up about accepting a character role in Coolie, and how it felt playing an evil villain, which is in contrast to his real life persona. 65 year old Nagarjuna told THR India, 

"In the last 2 years I've been very very confused about the roles that I want to do and what I was getting. And I wanted to move into a different genre, genre like 'Kuberaa' or 'Coolie' or something where I could really experiment with myself. Have fun going to shoots and working. 

 

I don't know how Lokesh came to me, and the first thing he said, 'do you mind playing an antagonist'. I said tell me the script, I'll think about it, I'm not against it..Half way through (his narration), I got hooked onto that script. Then I made him comeback 6-7 times. I liked it (Simon's character) very much. 

 

If anybody asks me how did it feel doing 'Coolie', I have only one word saying, 'very liberating'. Liberating in playing that (Simon) role, there was no pressure of how I act. For example, if I had to do Deepak's role in 'Kuberaa', there's some way this guy had to be..there had to be a certain decency. There (with Coolie), everything flew out of the window. 

 

The way I treat a woman flew out. There was another part which was very liberating for me, I could say 'just shut up, get out, out of my face' (in the movie Coolie), which I would never say (in real life).

 

The way Lokesh has presented the antagonist in 'Coolie', it was an other side of me. I asked Lokesh, 'do people behave like that, do you want me to behave like this?', and he said 'yes sir people are very evil'...It opened me up, probably with these two films, (Kuberaa and Coolie), I've become a better actor."  

 

A Sun Pictures production, Coolie is Nagarjuna's maiden collaboration with both Rajinikanth and director Lokesh Kanagraj. The movie has Anirudh Ravichander for music, and also stars Sathyaraj, Soubin Shahir, Upendra, Aamir Khan, Shruthi Haasan, Pooja Hegde in a cameo, among others.