It's celebration time for Rajini!

Monday, June 25, 2007
Two weeks ago, it was Tamil superstar Rajinikanth's fans who had a great time awaiting the release of his new magnum opus Shivaji. And now it's celebration time for the charismatic matinee idol himself.

At a glittering function, to be presided over by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, a celebrity in the Tamil film industry as a writer, Rajini will be celebrating a new milestone in his career with the record of 804 days run of his previous release Chandramukhi, which was released two years ago.

The film broke the record run of a 1944 film Haridoss made by the famous single actor Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. In a single theatre then, Haridoss had an uninterrupted run of 112 weeks, spanning over three Diwali festivals - 784 days in all.

Chandramukhi, a Tamil remake of a Kannada film, which in turn was a remake of a Malayalam hit Manichitrathazhu, was released in Tamil Nadu in April 2005, after the superstar was lying low in Kollywood. The speculation was in the wake of the miserable flop of his film Baba released in 2003.

Chandramukhi, which had the leading lady of the plot as the protagonist and Rajini playing a leading role, rejoiced his fans with his typical performance, also made the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of its production house Sivaji Films owned by the late thespian Sivaji Ganesan. It was after much contemplation after Baba that Rajini signed up this film, coming out of seclusion and taking to spiritual path.

The film unlike Haridoss created the record running in noon shows in a theatre owned by the producers of the film and late Sivaji Ganesan's elder son Ramkumar and the younger actor son Prabhu essayed a key role along with Rajini, in this film.

The celebrations at the sprawling Kamaraj Hall tomorrow evening would be presided over by the Chief Minister, Rajini's contemporary in Kollywood actor Kamal Hassan and well known director K Balachander who introduced both Kamal and Rajini as heroes in Tamil.

All the technicians associated with the making of Chandramukhi and its director P Vasu, who had made a couple of big hits with Rajini earlier will be recalling their experiences of working in the film. It is also known for the melodious score by music director Vidyasagar.

However, the irony to the celebrations is that actress Jyothika, who won all round acclaim for her performance in the role of Chandramukhi would be unable to attend the celebration.

According to Producer Mr Ramkumar, Chandramukhi had been having 40 per cent collection during its record run after celebrating the customary 100 days run.

The audience found the film peppy and entertaining. Critics say Chandramukhi was Rajini's 99th film in Tamil, the number which is said to be lucky for Rajini if going by numerology.