Rajinikanth must be feeling the pinch of superstardom.
Last year, his film Sivaji raised the bar at the box-office. Post the Shankar extravaganza, like the Bollywood Khan’s — Aamir and SRK — Rajini too has become internationally a saleable brand. An Asian hero who features in UK top 10 and the US top 20, he is probably the only Indian actor whose films have a market in Japan.
Two days ago, his latest film Kuselan — in which he does an extended cameo — has been censored with a clean U certificate and is all set for release on July 31worldwide.The Kollywood grapevine is abuzz that the superstar is tensed about the film, where he plays only a guest role but Pushpa Kandasamy and GP Vijayakumar, the producers of the film, and its director P.Vasu have marketed it like a “full-fledged Rajinikanth mass entertainer.” The film is a remake of the Malayalam super hit comedy Katha Parayumbol, a story of friendship and bonding between two childhood buddies (one a poor village barber and the other a superstar). The story is inspired by the mythological story of friendship between Kuselan and Lord Krishna. In the original version, the writer and actor Sreenivasan played the role of the barber and Meena donned the role of his wife while Mammootty played the superstar.When it became Kuselan in Tamil and Kathanayakudu in Telugu, the director expanded upon the superstar character and also introduced a glamour heroine Nayanthara in the script who was not there in the original version.
Vasu is at ease reworking Malayalam classics into mass commercial Tamil movies, which was evident in the 2005 blockbuster Chandramukhi. The barber character, played by Pasupathy, was conspicuously played down and the entire focus was on Rajinikanth and Nayanthara. In the original version, Mammootty appeared only for 18 minutes towards the climax of the film. Vasu says Rajinikanth is there for roughly 60 minutes of the 155 minutes running time of the film, and appears from the third reel!
It is an open secret that Rajinikanth wanted Vasu to stick to the original, so that his role would remain a cameo. He was very particular that the film should not be marketed as another Chandramukhi or Sivaji. At the puja of the film, Rajini told reporters that his role was only 25 percent of the film and played down his importance. But, the makers of the film marketed it like a full length superstar extravaganza and were able to sell it to Pyramid Saimira reportedly for a whopping Rs 60 crore!
The question that is being raised is - Will Kuselan, a film where Rajinikanth does only a special appearance (like Anbulla Rajinikanth, his last cameo of the 80’s and a flop) live up to his fans expectations? Says PS Saminathan, Chairman and Managing Director, Pyramid Saimira, “All Rajini films naturally have a big release and this film will be no exception. After all, you don’t require a marketing strategy for Rajini films as he is the only Superstar in the country who has a child following, mass following and a high class following.”
For any superstar, his calling card is his last release, so Kuselan’s box-office success is very crucial for Kollywood’s hit machine. Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Last year, his film Sivaji raised the bar at the box-office. Post the Shankar extravaganza, like the Bollywood Khan’s — Aamir and SRK — Rajini too has become internationally a saleable brand. An Asian hero who features in UK top 10 and the US top 20, he is probably the only Indian actor whose films have a market in Japan.
Two days ago, his latest film Kuselan — in which he does an extended cameo — has been censored with a clean U certificate and is all set for release on July 31worldwide.The Kollywood grapevine is abuzz that the superstar is tensed about the film, where he plays only a guest role but Pushpa Kandasamy and GP Vijayakumar, the producers of the film, and its director P.Vasu have marketed it like a “full-fledged Rajinikanth mass entertainer.” The film is a remake of the Malayalam super hit comedy Katha Parayumbol, a story of friendship and bonding between two childhood buddies (one a poor village barber and the other a superstar). The story is inspired by the mythological story of friendship between Kuselan and Lord Krishna. In the original version, the writer and actor Sreenivasan played the role of the barber and Meena donned the role of his wife while Mammootty played the superstar.When it became Kuselan in Tamil and Kathanayakudu in Telugu, the director expanded upon the superstar character and also introduced a glamour heroine Nayanthara in the script who was not there in the original version.
Vasu is at ease reworking Malayalam classics into mass commercial Tamil movies, which was evident in the 2005 blockbuster Chandramukhi. The barber character, played by Pasupathy, was conspicuously played down and the entire focus was on Rajinikanth and Nayanthara. In the original version, Mammootty appeared only for 18 minutes towards the climax of the film. Vasu says Rajinikanth is there for roughly 60 minutes of the 155 minutes running time of the film, and appears from the third reel!
It is an open secret that Rajinikanth wanted Vasu to stick to the original, so that his role would remain a cameo. He was very particular that the film should not be marketed as another Chandramukhi or Sivaji. At the puja of the film, Rajini told reporters that his role was only 25 percent of the film and played down his importance. But, the makers of the film marketed it like a full length superstar extravaganza and were able to sell it to Pyramid Saimira reportedly for a whopping Rs 60 crore!
The question that is being raised is - Will Kuselan, a film where Rajinikanth does only a special appearance (like Anbulla Rajinikanth, his last cameo of the 80’s and a flop) live up to his fans expectations? Says PS Saminathan, Chairman and Managing Director, Pyramid Saimira, “All Rajini films naturally have a big release and this film will be no exception. After all, you don’t require a marketing strategy for Rajini films as he is the only Superstar in the country who has a child following, mass following and a high class following.”
For any superstar, his calling card is his last release, so Kuselan’s box-office success is very crucial for Kollywood’s hit machine. Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment