It’s raining extravaganzas in Mumbai. After themusical spectacle that was Coldplay, on Sunday evening Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, director Shankar, music composer AR Rahman amid huge fanfare launched the first look of the film, 2.0.

Needless to say, Akshay's evil look was the talking point of the show. Hours before the launch he had shared his avatar from 2.0 on Twitter. The action star, who debuts with 2.0 into the Tamil industry, shed his good looks to become a monster, who will be Rajinikanth’s biggest nemesis.

“I have never put on make-up in 25 years of my career. But in this film I have done all the makeup of 25 years. It took me three hours to put it on and one hour to remove it. I am a very patient person but now my patience level has increased,” said Akshay. He plays Dr Richards who turns into a crow as a result of a wrong experiment.

A sequel to the 2010 film Enthiran (Robo in Telugu and Robot in Hindi) where Rajinikanth had a dual role as a geeky scientist and his robot, 2.0 is touted to be the costliest project in Indian cinema, clinching the rank from Baahubali. The film is said to be made at a whopping budget of Rs. 350 crore. The first look launch was one of its kind as the looks of Rajinikanth and Akshay were presented in 3D by Lyca Productions and huge LCD screens were put in place to set the tone of the mega launch.

However, the surprise factor of the evening, hosted by Karan Johar, was when superstar Salman Khan walked in at the event dressed in casuals to greet Rajinikanth and Akshay. There were rumours that Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan were invited to be the guests at the event, but nobody would have expected Salman to drop in at the venue and meet the South legend.

Salman confessed that he wasn’t invited to the event. He had just heard that Rajinikanth was coming, so he turned up on his own. “I just wanted to meet Rajinikanth, he's the most amazing man. I have a lot of respect for him. I wasn’t invited. I got to know that the launch was happening so I have come."

Talking about the first look, and his dear friend Akshay, Salman said, “I loved the teaser. Akshay is phenomenal. He is the only actor in Bollywood among all of us, who has shown growth and only he could have done this role.” In his trademark humour, Salman then asked Karan why doesn’t he make films like this leaving Karan speechless. “Shankar makes the most fabulous things. Why don’t you do it?  If given a chance I would have done that character,” Salman told Karan jokingly.

Meanwhile, when the media asked Rajinikanth when would he share screen space with Salman, after having worked with Shah Rukh Khan and now with Akshay, Rajinikanth said he's ready to start a film with him even tomorrow. Salman, the ball is in your court – the director had just announced that there is going to be a third part as well.

Rajinikanth was so impressed by Akshay that he said, “Akshay is the hero of the film, if I was given a choice I would have done Akki’s role.”  Talking about the director of the film, he said, “To work with Shankar is difficult. He is a perfectionist.  That is why he is one of the biggest directors. This picture as 3D is a different experience," he added.

Akshay also spoke about his experience with the Superstar. He said, "Rajinikanth is not a superstar, he is the entire galaxy. He has got the swag. Few years back his film Baba didn't do good business and he called all his distributors and returned their money. This is the sign of the biggest superstar."

2.0 First Look Launch Event Full Coverage