Shivaji - Preview

Thursday, June 14, 2007
The ultimate South Indian film
Rajinikanth, who came from an ordinary family used to work as a bus conductor in Maharashtra. He entered films somewhere around 1975 and with his stylish performance raised to the level of South Indian superstar. His style and acting capabilities earned him millions of fans across the world. Though he is an ordinary Indian film star, he had a massive fan following across the globe and it is no surprise to admit that even Hollywood stars have no such a huge fan clubs except a couple of directors and artistes.

The latest film from Rajinikanth titled Shivaji is directed by one of the top Indian directors Shankar and produced by M Saravanan and MS Guhan on AVM Productions banner, which is the banner's 168th project. This film starring Shreya Saran in in the female lead is all set to hit the screen on June 15. It is a very common phenomenon for all Rajanikanth films to do exceptionally well at the Box Offices across the world. Moreover, the shooting of Shivaji started with high expectations and speculations. It created a lot of sensation and another interesting feature is that the entire unit is tight-lipped over the subject or for that matter about any of the characters in the movie.

The director and his precautions:

Director Shankar, who brought out films like Aparichitudu, Oke Okkadu and Bharateeyudu to name a few is one of the most talented directors in India. He took every precaution in moulding the character of Shivaji. He directed his crew members to watch all the earlier films of Rajinikanth and keep a close watch on his make up in each film. The best-ever footages were marked from each film right from 1975 till his latest movie. Finally, the entire crew unanimously arrived at a conclusion that the hairdo of Rajanikanth in Padikkadavan made in 1985 is the best among all. Shankar made a thorough inquiry and summoned the make-up artiste who worked for that film and asked him to do the same for the hero after 22 long years. Likewise, they picked up different hairstyles as he was donning 15 different attires in this film. Rajini's dedication to the profession is shown from the fact that he had tonsured his head besides the moustache for one scene. Regarding make up, a specialist make-up artiste from France was flown in exclusively for the film and he stayed for two long years in India exclusively for the film till its completion.

Cast: Rajinikanth, Shreya Saran, Suman, Prakash Raj, Vivek, Raghuvaran, Manivannan, Nayantara
Producer: M. Saravanan, M. S. Guhan
Director: S. Shankar
Music: A. R. Rahman
Cinematography: K. V. Anand
Editor: Anthony
Dialogue: Sujatha