It's known that Hollywood's Arnold Schwarzenegger was approached to play the role of the antagonist in '2.0'. In the end, the role went to Bollywood star Akshay Kumar.

Director Shankar has today opened up about why Arnold couldn't be had in the film. "Although our film has been made on an international scale, the message is local. Any audience from any part of the world can relate to the film's theme. This is the reason why we approached Arnold. We had so many negotiations with his managers. However, things didn't work out. There were some issues with regards to signing the contract. It was then that we went to Akshay," the top director says.

Come 25 January 2018, we will know if Akshay will prove to be the right choice.