The soundtrack and trailer of Superstar Rajinikanth’s ‘Kochadaiiyaan’ was released amidst much pomp and fanfare in the city recently. With the Thalaivar’s diehard fans descending on the venue, there was no dearth of whistles and cheering-all aimed at their favourite matinee icon. Six feet hoardings of the Superstar as ‘Kochadaiiyaan’ were placed everywhere at the venue and the main stage was designed to look like the hull of a ship. The Kochadaiiyaan themed video games were launched alongside the special edition Karbonn mobiles.
A veritable galaxy of stars attended the grand event. K Balachander, credited with introducing Rajinikanth to Tamil cinema, was on hand to help launch the trailer, along with Vairamuthu, K.S. Ravikumar, AVM Saravanan, S.P. Muthuraman, Jackie Shroff, Sarath Kumar and several other dignitaries. Also present were the heads of Rajinikanth fan clubs from across the country.
The period drama marks the directorial debut of Rajinikanth’s daughter Soundarya R Ashwin, who called this movie her ‘dream debut’. “Kochadaiiyaan will stand as a testament to the sheer grit with which my father carved out his career. I’m very proud and honoured to have worked with him!”, she said.
A short, making video was then screened for the audience, featuring the stars strapped in sensors and cameras. Following this, the trailer was showcased to deafening roars. The Rudra Thandavam performed by the six pack, tattooed 3-D version of Rajinikanth was much appreciated as well.
Bollywood Actor Shahrukh Khan was the guest of honour for the function. Dressed in a dapper Alexander McQueen suit, the star impressed the crowd with his ‘fan-boy’ speech. “I have long been a fan of Rajinikanth sir. When Soundarya told me the idea behind this movie four years ago, I was very impressed. It is only fitting that this first of a kind movie is being made on our country’s one and only Superstar,” were the words of the Baadshah of Bollywood.
The heroine of the movie, Deepika Padukone, thanked the director and the Superstar for the opportunity to act in the movie. “Kochadaiiyaan is not just a movie. It is an experience. I hope all of you will watch the movie in theatres and appreciate the amount of hard work and effort that has gone into the making of this movie,” said the ruling diva of Bollywood.
But, the day truly belonged to the Superstar himself. When the star ascended the stage, it took a good fifteen minutes for the roars to quiet down nominally enough for his speech to be audible. That was not all, throughout his speech, the audience were up on their feet, punctuating his every sentence with a fervent ‘Thalaivaa!’. Clad simply in a white Kurta the superstar shared, “Like many others, I love fairytales. Especially the ones with kings and queens and their majestic battles! I had a nearly similar experience in ‘Aladdinum albutha vilakkum,’ and I was eager to be a part of this project.”
AR Rahman has composed a total of nine tracks for the movie, with most sounding like anthems. This was deliberate, according to the Oscar winning music composer. ” Since the story calls for energetic and vibrant tunes, I decided to add a bit of that to every song. Excepting a couple of them, the rest are all very inspirational numbers,” Rahman revealed at the event.
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Another Oscar awardee-Resul Pookutty is also a part of this magnum opus. He was asked to do the sound design by the Superstar himself, a fact he revealed at a press conference later that day. His biggest challenge was in recreating the late Nagesh’s voice onscreen. “You have to understand, this is a 3-D movie. And we’re trying to do it in Auro 3D sound system. It doesnt have any real life events so the sounds play a major role. I worked closely with the whole unit to get it right. Right now I’m working overtime to nail down the final effects before release,” elaborated the ace sound designer.
In ‘Kochadaiiyaan,’ Rajinikath will essay dual roles of a father and son. Deepika Padukone is paired opposite the younger while danseuse Shobana will play the wife of the older character. The movie is set to release in more than 600 screens in Tamil Nadu alone. The makers are also planning to release the film in Japan, where Rajinikanth is hailed as the ‘dancing maharaja’ after the dubbed version of his 1995 hit ‘Muthu’ that met with considerable success in the country. The film will be shown to the Censors soon and is likely to release in April 2014.