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Kochadaiiyaan is an upcoming Tamil period film directed by Soundarya R. Ashwin and written byK. S. Ravikumar. The film will feature Rajinikanth in three roles alongside R. Sarathkumar, Aadhi, Deepika Padukone, Shobana, Rukmini Vijayakumar, Jackie Shroff and Nassar. The film, which is expected to be shot with motion capture in 3D, will have cinematography handled by Rajiv Menon whilst background score and soundtrack will be composed by A. R. Rahman. The film will be simultaneously released in Telugu (as Vikrama Simha).and dubbed in Malayalam and English and will also be released in Hindi and Japanese. As of 2012, Italian and Spanish versions of the film have also been announced. Shooting for the film was finished by the end of February 2013, and post-production works are currently going on at London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and mostly China. Originally spelled as Kochadaiyaan, the film was renamed (with an extra "i") for numerological reasons. The film is expected to be released on 10 April 2014.
Click to download Kochadaiyaan 5 Songs
Cast
Rajinikanth as Kochadaiiyaan and Rana
R. Sarathkumar as Sengodagan
Deepika Padukone as Vadhana Devi
Shobana
Aadhi
Rukmini Vijayakumar
Jackie Shroff
Nassar
Development
Rajinikanth with K. S. Ravikumar and two of the Kochadaiiyaan directorial team members.
Rajinikanth's next film, after Shankar's Enthiran (2010), was supposed to be Rana, a historical drama film to be directed by K. S. Ravikumar and dually-produced by Soundarya R. Ashwin's Ocher Picture Productions and Eros Entertainment. However, Rajinikanth became ill and was treated for dehydration and exhaustion at a hospital, resulting in postponement of Rana's filming. On 23 November 2011, for her maiden directorial project, Soundarya tweeted through her Twitter account, notifying followers to watch out for an official announcement. The following day, she announced that her father's next film would be titled Kochadaiyaan and that she was "[grateful and] excited to be directing [her] father". A tentatively scheduled release period of August 2012 was also announced. The film was finalised to be a co-production of Eros Entertainment and Media One Global. Soundarya further stated that K. S. Ravikumar had worked with her father and herself on the script of the film. With regards to the film's title, Ravikumar claimed that it drew reference to an alternate name of Hindu deity Shiva, while also being partly inspired by the name of the Pandya Dynasty king Kochadaiyan Ranadhiran, and that the plot would be a fictional account with small references to Indian history. The director clarified that Kochadaiiyaan was not related to the same-titled history series being published by the Tamil magazine Kumudam. In May 2012, Soundarya announced that Kochadaiiyaan is a prequel to Rana.
Casting
For the female lead role, Anushka Shetty was initially approached, but sources confirmed later that she was not part of the film. It was then rumoured that Asin Thottumkal and Vidya Balan were being considered for the role, since producers preferred a Bollywood actress. Soundarya R. Ashwin approached Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif in January 2012, who was not able to give her dates and the team reapproached Balan. Despite reports that Kaif was finalised, Deepika Padukone, who was slated to pair with Rajinikanth in Rana, took up the offer in February 2012, marking her debut in Tamil cinema. Padukone was paid a salary of INR3 crore (US$460,000) for shooting only for two days in the film. According to Soundarya, she was "quite relieved to not be wearing make-up for a film for the first time in her career."
The film began to increase its casting profile after Malayalam actor Prithviraj was rumoured to have been signed to play an important role in the film. The rumour was falsified following the inclusion of Aadhi, who was known for his lead-role performances in Mirugam (2007) and Eeram (2009), in the cast; when he confirmed his presence in the project, he remarked that working with Rajinikanth was "a realisation of a dream that he has had since childhood". Sneha was reported to be finalised for a supporting role, with the actress confirming her presence in the film in December 2011. She, however, opted-out a couple months later citing conflicts in her schedule and Rukmini Vijayakumar, who made her debut in the film Bommalattam (2008), was signed in her place. R. Sarathkumar accepted Soundarya's offer for an important role in the film while veteran actor Nassar was recruited in the film as well for a supporting role.
Furthermore, Shobana and Lakshmi Manchu were said to be considered for a role in the film. Soundarya confirmed that the former was added to the cast saying that she was the "only choice for the role" as the character was written keeping her in mind. Soundarya disclaimed the rumour that Aishwarya Rai was chosen to do a guest appearance in the film. Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff, who was last seen in Tamil cinema playing a crucial role in the critically acclaimed Aaranya Kaandam (2011), was also signed up for an antagonistic role. Shroff immediately gave his consent, when the cast and the technical scope of Kochadaiiyaan were revealed to him.
Peter Hein was chosen as the film's action choreographer, while A. R. Rahman agreed to compose the film's background score and soundtrack. Rajiv Menon was recruited as the film's cinematographer. Soundarya invited art professionals to send their work as she was forming an art department for Kochadaiiyaan. She handpicked 42 students from Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai for the task, besides 50 experienced persons from the Jacob College of Fine Arts. 60 concept artistes were already reportedly working for the film.
Design
National Award winning fashion designer Neeta Lulla has worked on the looks of each character, including the lead role portrayed by Rajinikanth. For Lulla, the project required a lot of research. Around 150 costumes per character were designed on paper and out of those, 25 costumes were selected and detailed. Lulla also created a range of 20 to 30 looks especially for Rajinikanth's armour suit as well as the supporting cast of Kochadaiiyaan. According to her, "We created the looks not in fabric form but a detailed overview in sketch form. My creative team and I worked on for almost eight months on the various characterisations of Rajini sir and the other supporting cast. It was a different kind of design experience altogether"
On Rajinikanth's looks, Soundarya quoted. "First, we (the team) scanned his face and made a 3D model to get the exact precision of his features, such as the scar on his nose. And then we corrected the 3D model by tightening his skin to make him look 25 years younger. They used that technology in the film Tron." The youthfulness of the look was compared to the looks that Rajinikanth carried in his film Muthu.
Filming
"Animation is a word, a process. In India, people think animation is cartoon. Avatar was animation, but is not a cartoon. Tintin is completely cartoonistic. I am creating Rajinikanth, where he has actually performed, it's captured on a camera and then put into a 3D version. Avatar took seven years and so much budget and a James Cameron. There was always the insecurity of the unknown, but we have taken a road never taken in India and broken rules and have completed the film in just a year and a half."
– Soundarya, in an interview with The Times of India[55]
The film posters claimed filming to utilise performance capturing technology, same as that used in films such as Avatar (2009) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011), making Kochadaiiyaan the first Indian film to involve so. K. S. Ravikumar, story writer of the film, announced that the filming would commence from 15 January 2012.The first schedule of indoor shooting started with Rajinikanth's base actions being filmed as per the motion capturing norms.
The film was launched with a formal puja on 19 January 2012 at the Ganesha temple located inside AVM Studios in Vadapalani, Chennai.First-look posters of the film were released on 5 February 2012.The first schedule of the film shooting began on in Chennai on 15 March 2012, post this, the team was off to London along with the lead actor Rajinikanth to continue the first schedule. In course of the schedule for 20 days in London shooting along with Soundarya and Ravikumar, Rajinikanth claimed the film may release on Diwali 2012.After completing the first schedule of the film in London, Rajinikanth returned to Chennai on 2 April 2012 and the next schedule of the film shooting was planned in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.Soundarya roped in Saroj Khan, Raju Sundaram, Chinni Prakash and his wife, and Shobi to choreograph the songs.
Release
Initially, the film was set for a November 2012 release in India. In course of time, the release date was advanced to September 2012. In the last week of June 2012 the release date was reported to be unspecified as the makers were disagreeing to compromise on the quality of the multilingual film. Other reports claimed that the release date was pushed to avoid clash with other high budget cum multi-starrer Bollywood films releasing during the festive time of November 2012. The producer of the film confirmed the news of setting no official release date as he opined the need of perfection in every aspect of filming, production, post-production and promotion. Later, reports stated that Soundarya Rajinikanth was planning to release the film on 12 December 2012, coinciding with Rajinikanth's birthday. However, it was postponed to January 2013 due to extensive post-production work. The reports of February 2013 strongly considered the film to release on the eve of Puthandu in April 2013. Though on 3 March 2013, the makers of the film zeroed on 5 July 2013 as the release schedule, later reports of June 2013 suggested that the film would be released on Diwali. Though the producers considered releasing the film on 12 December 2013, it was later postponed to 10 January 2014. It was later reported that to avoid competition with Veeram and Jilla which would also be releasing on the same day, Kochadaiiyaan would be released on 10 April 2014.
In March 2013, the distribution rights for the film in the United States were sold to ATMUS Entertainment while Hyderabad-based Lakshmy Ganpathy Films purchased the distribution rights of the film's Telugu language version. In July 2012, Jaya TV acquired the television broadcast rights of the film for an undisclosed sum.
Click to download Kochadaiyaan 5 Songs
Cast
Rajinikanth as Kochadaiiyaan and Rana
R. Sarathkumar as Sengodagan
Deepika Padukone as Vadhana Devi
Shobana
Aadhi
Rukmini Vijayakumar
Jackie Shroff
Nassar
Development
Rajinikanth with K. S. Ravikumar and two of the Kochadaiiyaan directorial team members.
Rajinikanth's next film, after Shankar's Enthiran (2010), was supposed to be Rana, a historical drama film to be directed by K. S. Ravikumar and dually-produced by Soundarya R. Ashwin's Ocher Picture Productions and Eros Entertainment. However, Rajinikanth became ill and was treated for dehydration and exhaustion at a hospital, resulting in postponement of Rana's filming. On 23 November 2011, for her maiden directorial project, Soundarya tweeted through her Twitter account, notifying followers to watch out for an official announcement. The following day, she announced that her father's next film would be titled Kochadaiyaan and that she was "[grateful and] excited to be directing [her] father". A tentatively scheduled release period of August 2012 was also announced. The film was finalised to be a co-production of Eros Entertainment and Media One Global. Soundarya further stated that K. S. Ravikumar had worked with her father and herself on the script of the film. With regards to the film's title, Ravikumar claimed that it drew reference to an alternate name of Hindu deity Shiva, while also being partly inspired by the name of the Pandya Dynasty king Kochadaiyan Ranadhiran, and that the plot would be a fictional account with small references to Indian history. The director clarified that Kochadaiiyaan was not related to the same-titled history series being published by the Tamil magazine Kumudam. In May 2012, Soundarya announced that Kochadaiiyaan is a prequel to Rana.
Casting
For the female lead role, Anushka Shetty was initially approached, but sources confirmed later that she was not part of the film. It was then rumoured that Asin Thottumkal and Vidya Balan were being considered for the role, since producers preferred a Bollywood actress. Soundarya R. Ashwin approached Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif in January 2012, who was not able to give her dates and the team reapproached Balan. Despite reports that Kaif was finalised, Deepika Padukone, who was slated to pair with Rajinikanth in Rana, took up the offer in February 2012, marking her debut in Tamil cinema. Padukone was paid a salary of INR3 crore (US$460,000) for shooting only for two days in the film. According to Soundarya, she was "quite relieved to not be wearing make-up for a film for the first time in her career."
The film began to increase its casting profile after Malayalam actor Prithviraj was rumoured to have been signed to play an important role in the film. The rumour was falsified following the inclusion of Aadhi, who was known for his lead-role performances in Mirugam (2007) and Eeram (2009), in the cast; when he confirmed his presence in the project, he remarked that working with Rajinikanth was "a realisation of a dream that he has had since childhood". Sneha was reported to be finalised for a supporting role, with the actress confirming her presence in the film in December 2011. She, however, opted-out a couple months later citing conflicts in her schedule and Rukmini Vijayakumar, who made her debut in the film Bommalattam (2008), was signed in her place. R. Sarathkumar accepted Soundarya's offer for an important role in the film while veteran actor Nassar was recruited in the film as well for a supporting role.
Furthermore, Shobana and Lakshmi Manchu were said to be considered for a role in the film. Soundarya confirmed that the former was added to the cast saying that she was the "only choice for the role" as the character was written keeping her in mind. Soundarya disclaimed the rumour that Aishwarya Rai was chosen to do a guest appearance in the film. Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff, who was last seen in Tamil cinema playing a crucial role in the critically acclaimed Aaranya Kaandam (2011), was also signed up for an antagonistic role. Shroff immediately gave his consent, when the cast and the technical scope of Kochadaiiyaan were revealed to him.
Peter Hein was chosen as the film's action choreographer, while A. R. Rahman agreed to compose the film's background score and soundtrack. Rajiv Menon was recruited as the film's cinematographer. Soundarya invited art professionals to send their work as she was forming an art department for Kochadaiiyaan. She handpicked 42 students from Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai for the task, besides 50 experienced persons from the Jacob College of Fine Arts. 60 concept artistes were already reportedly working for the film.
Design
National Award winning fashion designer Neeta Lulla has worked on the looks of each character, including the lead role portrayed by Rajinikanth. For Lulla, the project required a lot of research. Around 150 costumes per character were designed on paper and out of those, 25 costumes were selected and detailed. Lulla also created a range of 20 to 30 looks especially for Rajinikanth's armour suit as well as the supporting cast of Kochadaiiyaan. According to her, "We created the looks not in fabric form but a detailed overview in sketch form. My creative team and I worked on for almost eight months on the various characterisations of Rajini sir and the other supporting cast. It was a different kind of design experience altogether"
On Rajinikanth's looks, Soundarya quoted. "First, we (the team) scanned his face and made a 3D model to get the exact precision of his features, such as the scar on his nose. And then we corrected the 3D model by tightening his skin to make him look 25 years younger. They used that technology in the film Tron." The youthfulness of the look was compared to the looks that Rajinikanth carried in his film Muthu.
Filming
"Animation is a word, a process. In India, people think animation is cartoon. Avatar was animation, but is not a cartoon. Tintin is completely cartoonistic. I am creating Rajinikanth, where he has actually performed, it's captured on a camera and then put into a 3D version. Avatar took seven years and so much budget and a James Cameron. There was always the insecurity of the unknown, but we have taken a road never taken in India and broken rules and have completed the film in just a year and a half."
– Soundarya, in an interview with The Times of India[55]
The film posters claimed filming to utilise performance capturing technology, same as that used in films such as Avatar (2009) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011), making Kochadaiiyaan the first Indian film to involve so. K. S. Ravikumar, story writer of the film, announced that the filming would commence from 15 January 2012.The first schedule of indoor shooting started with Rajinikanth's base actions being filmed as per the motion capturing norms.
The film was launched with a formal puja on 19 January 2012 at the Ganesha temple located inside AVM Studios in Vadapalani, Chennai.First-look posters of the film were released on 5 February 2012.The first schedule of the film shooting began on in Chennai on 15 March 2012, post this, the team was off to London along with the lead actor Rajinikanth to continue the first schedule. In course of the schedule for 20 days in London shooting along with Soundarya and Ravikumar, Rajinikanth claimed the film may release on Diwali 2012.After completing the first schedule of the film in London, Rajinikanth returned to Chennai on 2 April 2012 and the next schedule of the film shooting was planned in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.Soundarya roped in Saroj Khan, Raju Sundaram, Chinni Prakash and his wife, and Shobi to choreograph the songs.
Release
Initially, the film was set for a November 2012 release in India. In course of time, the release date was advanced to September 2012. In the last week of June 2012 the release date was reported to be unspecified as the makers were disagreeing to compromise on the quality of the multilingual film. Other reports claimed that the release date was pushed to avoid clash with other high budget cum multi-starrer Bollywood films releasing during the festive time of November 2012. The producer of the film confirmed the news of setting no official release date as he opined the need of perfection in every aspect of filming, production, post-production and promotion. Later, reports stated that Soundarya Rajinikanth was planning to release the film on 12 December 2012, coinciding with Rajinikanth's birthday. However, it was postponed to January 2013 due to extensive post-production work. The reports of February 2013 strongly considered the film to release on the eve of Puthandu in April 2013. Though on 3 March 2013, the makers of the film zeroed on 5 July 2013 as the release schedule, later reports of June 2013 suggested that the film would be released on Diwali. Though the producers considered releasing the film on 12 December 2013, it was later postponed to 10 January 2014. It was later reported that to avoid competition with Veeram and Jilla which would also be releasing on the same day, Kochadaiiyaan would be released on 10 April 2014.
In March 2013, the distribution rights for the film in the United States were sold to ATMUS Entertainment while Hyderabad-based Lakshmy Ganpathy Films purchased the distribution rights of the film's Telugu language version. In July 2012, Jaya TV acquired the television broadcast rights of the film for an undisclosed sum.
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