Having signed the Tamil film Sivaji, where she stars opposite Rajnikanth [Images], Shriya is the talk of the town. Shankar, one of the hottest Tamil directors, will direct this venture.

"It is an honour to act with Rajnikanth, a demi-god," says the actress, who has not met the Tamil superstar yet. "He is a great artiste with tremendous screen presence and a legend. I have seen his Hindi films and saw the recent Tamil blockbuster Chandramukhi twice."

She is happy to work with Shankar too. "He is a superb director. I have seen his Boys and Anniyan," she gushes.

Shriya was offered the role after Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai [Images] and Ayesha Takia [Images] turned down the offer. "I don't mind getting something like this on the rebound. It should not matter to an artiste. One should give their best performance."

So how did she bag the plum assignment? "Shankar saw a few songs and rushes from my Tamil film Mazhai [remake of the Telugu film Varsham]," she explains. "I met him and it was finalised."

But Shriya is tight-lipped about the role. There seems to be an element of secrecy about the whole project, except for the fact that Rajnikanth is said to have been paid a whopping Rs 150 million for the film.

The shooting is likely to start in mid-December, as the script is still being finalised.

Till then, Shriya is busy getting ready for the role by attending advanced acting classes of Namit Kapoor and working on her figure.