Rajni back in action:this time as - a superstar!

Chennai, Jul 31 (UNI) Two more potential blockbusters in hand, Kollywood - Tamil cinema's superstar Rajnikant is all set to regale his lakhs of fans again, this time playing himself in a bilingual 'Kuselan', a remake of the Malayalam superhit ''Kathaa Parayumbol'', which will be releasing tomorrow world-wide, as its distributors, the corporate film company Pyramid Saimira put it.

Unlike his 2006 flick 'Chandramukhi' which was also a remake of a national award winning Malayalam film and the action packed ''Shivaji, the boss'' directed by Shankar, who will also be directing Rajni's next flick ''Robot', 'Kuselan' is a comedy film and was all about the value of true friendship. A poor man from a village rises to become a superstar and his simpleton barber friend has a chance meeting him and both relive those moments of friendship again in the film.

Kuselan, simultaneously made in Telugu as 'Kathanayakudu'' with a few changes in casting to suit the audience in Andhra Pradesh and to fetch the box office, was directed by Rajni's close friend and director P Vasu. Mr Vasu, had earlier directed a few hits with Rajni. While Kuselan would be his 55th film, it would be his fifth with Rajni.

The film was being considered as one dear to Rajni's heart, irrespective of its box office performance, as it was being made under the banner of his mentor, a doyen of Tamil cinema, producer director K Balachandar's Kavithalaya. It was sold for a whopping Rs 60 crore to Pyramid Saimira.

The flick would also be special to Rajni, as for the first time, a film of his was being released in the United States. Needless to say, his fans in Japan were all set to lap it up, as the star has many fans in that country, following the success of another of his box office bonanzas ''Yajaman'' some years back. Huge cut-outs of the superstar have been sent to US to regale his fans there, as well as in Japan the film's PRO Diamond Babu told UNI.

Talking to UNI about his new flick with Rajni, director Vasu said ''there are great expectations from the film. I have tried to make it very humorous at the same time, conveying a meesage of 'universal friendship.' Asked, if he had made any changes from the original Malayalam film, Mr Vasu said vis-a-vis an 80-minute appearance by Mammootty in the original version, Rajni would be appearing for 60 minutes in 'Kuselan', symbolically titled after a character by the same name from Mahabharata, who shares a special friendship with Lord Krishna.

More UNI VV AE NS1104