THE SIVAJI – ENDHIRAN COMBO!

With Rajini the superstar, everything constantly gets
bigger: starting from the expectations to the budgets and
everything in between. So it’s not surprising Endhiran
surpassed the biggest of big movies in Indian cinema to
qualify for the most expensive movie ever to be made. But
then so was his earlier Sivaji, which was made at a budget
Tamil cinema never imagined so far. So how has Endhiran
managed to outshine Sivaji? Here, we take a look.

The Budget

Sivaji set the benchmark for mammoth ventures in Tamil
cinema with its 60 crore budget. It was made at a highest
budget Tamil cinema has ever seen. At 200 crores, Endhiran,
on the other hand, broke the boundaries and became the most
expensive film to be ever made in Indian cinema. Talk about
setting benchmarks!

Screens

Sivaji was released in 850 prints in 1000 screens all over the
world, while Endhiran is expected to be distributed in a
whopping 2000 number of prints, to be shown in 3000 screens.
Quite a staggering number for a Tamil movie, indeed!.

The villain returns

The hibernating Suman returned for Sivaji and Shankar gave him a
fresh lease of career, quite literally. Before Shankar talked to
Suman, other big names in the industry including Rajkiran and
Mohanlal were approached but the offer finally landed in Suman’s
lap. The announcement created quite a flutter as Suman literally
was nowhere to be seen in the movie circles then.

With Endhiran, Shankar is bringing the menacing Danny
Denzongpa to Tamil who is known not only for his antics on
screen but his social responsibilities as a philanthropist.
Interestingly, nobody even in their wildest dreams would have
guessed Danny as a possible villain.

Heroines

Lady luck smiled at Shriya when she was spotted by Shankar for
Sivaji. Not that she was non-existent before, but her career was
nowhere close to where it is now. Shriya’s had an unremarkable
market at that time and had only Thiruvilayadal Aarambam in her
kitty. Enter Sivaji, her career started flying high. Sivaji
provided her the much needed push.

In Endhiran though, Aishwarya Rai finally became Rajini’s muse.
She has been in talks to be cast in many of Rajini’s movies
starting from Padayappa.

Special Effects

While Sivaji’s visual effects were done by M.S. Indian Artists,
given the nature of the computer graphics Shankar played it safe and
took the help of Stan Winston Studios.

Cinematography

Shankar regular K V Anand handled the camera for Sivaji. Now that
Anand is busy directing movies himself, Endhiran has Ratnavelu behind
the camera. K V Anand had earlier collaborated with Shankar for his
successful movies Mudalvan, Nayak (Hindi) and later Sivaji. Ratnavelu,
on the other hand, will be wielding the baton for the first time for
Shankar.

World Wide Distribution

Sivaji’s worldwide marketing was done by Ayngaran, while Endhiran takes
a global stage with the international company HBO distributing it
worldwide.

Costume Design

Shankar seems to be happy with the pink shirts Rajini wore for Sivaji,

designed by Manish Malhotra and has retained him for Endhiran as well.
However, Manish Malhotra also has Mary E. Vogt as a partner in company for
the costume design.

Art Director

While Sivaji has Thotta Tharani’s opulent sets, significant of them being
the glass palace look alike sets in the ‘Sahana’ number, Endhiran will
have the subtler Sabu Cyril in place to take care of the art direction.
Sabu also has another challenge of visualising and bringing to the screen
the futuristic research labs that are part of Endhiran’s script, where
Robots are bred in real time.

Stunt

Sivaji’s stunts were handled by Peter Hein. He also retains his position in
Endhiran, but shares it with Yuen Woo Ping.

Assistant Directors

Sivaji’s

Assistant Directors include J. D.
Jerry, Balaji
Sakthivel, Hosimin, Gandhi Krishna,
and Vijay
Anand while Endhiran has Balaji
Sakthivel,
Gandhi Krishna and Manoj
Bharathiraja to assist
Shankar in the state of affairs.