When Robot meets Rajini,tab is Rs 175 cr

Costliest Indian film,with big names on and off screen,Endhiran/Robot will have a simultaneous global release,from America to South East Asia,with over 2,000 prints. Music was released in Malaysia.

Costliest Indian film,with big names on and off screen,Endhiran/Robot will have a simultaneous global release,from America to South East Asia,with over 2,000 prints. Music was released in Malaysia.

He has always been a man defined by superlatives,but even for superstar Rajnikanth,this is big. A scale so big that he is the hero,the anti-hero,and,we are told,donning a third role as well in the much-expected Endhiran,the costliest Indian movie ever.

Even when it was conceived,the film,which was initially budgeted at a billion rupees,was to be the biggest in the country. Two years on,the cost has reportedly shot past Rs 175 crore to produce what the superstar himself terms as “an experience”. Needless to say such a huge cost requires the world as its stage,a reason why the release of the film was postponed once again by a little over a week to enable simultaneous release across the world,including North America,Europe and South East Asia — where Rajini is said to have a strong following.

If an average Tamil film is dependent on ticket sales for three-fourth of its revenue,Endhiran is trying to maximize through aggressively marketing overseas,such as releasing its audio in Malaysia. There are Hindi and Telugu versions as well,and some reports talk of an English subtitled version. Altogether,the film will have over 2,000 prints,as the producers aim to recoup their cost in the initial few days — a carpet coverage strategy that has succeeded with big budget projects few times in the past.

That this is a Rajini film after three years explains the excitement in Tamil Nadu. In this time,he became a grandfather for a second time while his younger daughter got married.

According to director Shankar,the spark came a decade ago,based on a story by Tamil sci-fi pioneer Sujatha,who passed away recently. The story revolves around a scientist who creates a robot in his image which goes rogue. However,not many were convinced about the viability of such a project,in a country where the genre itself is novel. Two years hence and with the backing of production house Sun Pictures from the Maran stable,Endhiran now boasts of a collaboration of big names from the world of mainstream cinema,including Stan Winston Studio that worked on the visual effects of blockbusters such as Avatar and Jurassic Park,and Yuen Woo-ping,the master who taught Hollywood the nuances of kung fu in The Matrix trilogy,Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon. Academy Award winners A. R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty,actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Danny Denzongpa and art director Sabu Cyril are some of the familiar names associated with the film. Adding to the trivia treasure,Rahman’s daughter Katheeja has rendered the title song.

This is the first full-fledged production by Sun Pictures,as their previous movies were bought over after the completion and marketed using the Sun group’s media firms. In fact,after the first producer backed out,only such a group,flush with funds,could have supported such an ambitious project.

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