Chandranukhii crosses 500 days

Monday, August 28, 2006
Chennai (UNI): Scoring five hundred runs is a record any batsman in cricket would dream of achieving. Only one, one of the modern heroes of cricket, Caribbean Brian Charles Lara has achieved this feat. Similarly, every star actor would love to see his film run for 365 days or even 500 days: this record too has been achieved by only one hero in Tamil film industry. It is none other than Kollywood Superstar Rajnikanth, whose latest film Chandramukhi has completed a record run of 500 days in a single theatre in Chennai. The film is directed by the seasoned P Vasu, who had earlier directed Rajni in a few hits. And like Rajni's earlier mega hit Muthu, Chandramukhi is all set to be released in Japan, with sub titles in Japanese language.

Not only for Rajni, the film based on a Malayalam hit Manichithrathazhu, was released last year and has turned out to be a bonanza for the producers ''Sivaji Films'', belonging to late thespian Sivaji Ganesan, which did not have a hit for a long time and at the appropriate time when it was celebrating 50 years of existence. The film has turned out to be a 'turn of luck' for Rajni, who had donned grease paint three years after his last flick Baba turned out be a miserable flop. Chandramukhi has had a record run of 200 days in 57 theatres in Tamil Nadu and 300 days in seven theatres.

Efforts are on to remake Chandramukhi in Hindi. The producers of the film, late Sivaji's sons, producer Ramkumar and actor Prabhu attribute the immense success of the film to 'team work.' Only a few Kollywood films have had record runs. The yesteryear film Haridass had a run of one year while in 1982 another film Payanangal Mudivathillai also ran for a year in Chennai city. Before this film, a Telugu film by famous Tamil director with the title Maro Charithra starring super actor Kamal Hassan, ran for one year in noon shows. Maro Charithra also went on to become a big hit when remade in Hindi as Ek Duje Keliye, with Kamal playing the lead again.