The countdown to Kochadaiiyaan

Priya sundarajan Updated - May 23, 2014 at 12:10 PM.

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Kochadaiyaan Rajini

Photo: Special arrangement

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Kochadaiiyaan’s genesis could be traced to Sultan: The Warrior, the animation film that Soundarya Rajinikanth had started in 2007 starring Rajinikanth. For various reasons, the film did not take off. Rajinikanth then roped in all-weather friend director K.S. Ravikumar to help with the script of the film. ▲

What Ravikumar and his team produced was a totally different script. Rajini, taken in by the storyline, decided to make a new film based on it. Thus, Rana was born. The live action film was to have been produced by Soundarya’s Ocher Picture Productions and Eros Entertainment. ▲

However, before the film’s crew could proceed any further, Rajini fell seriously ill. Taking into account Rajini’s health, Murali Manohar, the producer suggested an animation film that could be a prequel to Rana. The film, titled Kochadaiyaan (an extra ‘i’ was added later), was to be a Eros Entertainment and Media One Global co-production. To reach out to a pan-India audience, the producers decided to rope in A.R. Rahman, Deepika Padukone and Jackie Shroff for the project.

Photo: Handout_E_Mail

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As Rajinikanth’s fans would say, all ‘thalaivar’ movies are special. But the producers claim Kochadaiiyaan is extra special because it is the first Indian movie to use the 3D motion capture photorealistic technology, the same technology used in Hollywood flicks such as Avatar and Tintin. ▲

While it was Rajini’s health which delayed the start of Kochadaiiyaan in the initial days, technology proved to be a bugbear at later stages. The film’s crew spent a lot of time in London and Hong Kong working on various technical aspects of the films. ▲

After much foot-dragging, it was announced that the film would hit the Indian screens on May 23. But even after this announcement, there was lot of uncertainty about the film’s release and many theatres did not start reservations as the producer was said to be facing some resistance from some sections of the trade related to his earlier film.

Photo: K_Gopinathan

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But the suspense is over and Kochadaiiyaan is finally out. The film, which is being released on 4,000 screens worldwide, is expected to set a new record in first-day collections. Of course, its final box-office performance would depend on how all the Rajini fans feel about seeing their ‘thalaivar’ in an animated avatar!

Photo: V_GANESAN

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Kochadaiiyaan, the computer-animated period film starring Rajinikanth, has finally hit the Indian theatres. For millions of his fans, Kochadaiiyaan is more than a movie for more reasons than one. For starters, this is the first film that Rajini has done after recovering from a kidney-related ailment that saw him flying to Singapore for treatment. The film also gave some anxious moments to its fans, producers and trade alike as uncertainty loomed large over its release. Here’s a look at some of the highlights in Kochadaiiyaan’s timeline.

Published on July 23, 2024 09:37