Much hyped Rajni film 'Sivaji' all set to hit screens

Chennai, June 14 (UNI) It's festival time for innumerable fans of Tamil superstar Rajnikant, completing a 'century' with his latest action flick 'Sivaji', produced by AVM productions.

Directed by another famous name in Tamil cinema, Shankar of 'Indian' fame, Sivaji will be released tomorrow in Tamil Nadu and some parts of the globe, including the United States, home of Hollywood.

The film, about corruption and black money, is being released in more than 450 theatres all over Tamil Nadu and 15 theatres in Chennai city, many of them multiplexes. However, for the first time, a Rajni film is being dubbed in Chinese for release in Hong Kong. The film also had a US premier.

But there is palpable tension in AVM studios, who had made its 168th film 'Sivaji' to mark 60 years of filmaking, being the only studio system to survive after its equally illustrious contemporay Gemini and Vauhini studios had to close shop once Tamil cinema moved outdoors in the 70s.

'Sivaji', made in a whopping budget of Rs 100 crore, as some sources in AVM would have us believe, suffered some bad times, as it were, when the release had to be postponed twice. Launched about 18 months ago with much fanfare, the release, first scheduled for Tamil New Year day on April 14 this year and later pushed to May 31, had to be postoponed twice due to postproduction work and a few reshoots sought by Rajni himself.

Thus the tension in AVM offices, as such postponment had never been the practise in the production house launched in late 1940s by A V Meyappa Chettiar, father of the present proprietor and producer A V M Saravanan. Such procastination is also believed to be a bad omen for the box office success of a film in Kollywood, as Tamil film industry is called, rhyming with Hollywood.

All that sources in AVM would say was ''as we have been doing all along, we have given a good film and we are confident that it would be another big hit for us.'' According to the film's main distributor in Chennai, the film has already collected a record Rs 1.73 crore through advance booking in the first week itself.

The film created much hype as Rajni was to do 'Sivaji' two years after delivering a hit 'Chandramukhi' for Sivaji productions, the production company of yesteryear Tamil cinema icon Sivaji Ganesan. And the release of 'Sivaji' comes even as 'Chandramukhi', a remake of a Malayalam film, is poised to create a new record with completing 800 days in theatres, albeit in noon shows in a single theatre in Chennai.

'Sivaji' kicked off as the most expensive film in Tamil and incorporating technological firsts like 'Super-35' sound and 4K technology in Indian cinema. An expert from Canada was employed for 'colour collection'.

It created a sensation when the music track of the film, with A R Rahman's score was leaked out to a website allegedly by some technicians working an the film. Two of them died under mysterious circumstances at a party hosted to mark the completion of the film by director Shankar.

And much to the glee of his fans, Rajni is supposed to be at his 'dancing best' and has performed many stunt scene without using a 'dupe', a double in film making parlance. What's more, he would be regaling his fans in seven different 'roles' envanating from a single character.

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