Rajini picks Lyca’s Raju for key Mandram post

Raju, incidentally, is producing Rajinikanth’s upcoming 2.0.  He made news earlier in January when he quit his position to join Rajinikanth’s political campaign. Reflecting the views of a number of people, political analyst Sumanth Raman said, “If Rajini Makkal Mandram is to be run by his movie buddies he isn’t going to be making much of an impact in Politics. People want to see a team from all spheres not just a line up of his movie friends. Not a great start.” (sic) However, Raju himself is unfazed by the criticism. “I’ve been one of his biggest fans right from my childhood, and it was my dream to work with him. That came true when we were making Shankar’s film 2.0, and I have spent the last three years next to him. In that period, I truly understood his vision and it inspired me,” Raju had told DT Next. He was also the first to join the actor’s political movement in January.