Rajinikanth’s 2.0, directed by Shankar and starring Akshay Kumar as the villain, is releasing amid great expectations from the trade and the superstar’s fans. The film is reportedly made on a budget of Rs 450 crore where Rajinikanth will reprise his role as scientist Vaseegaran and everyone’s favourite robot Chitti from Enthiran. It has been eight years since Enthiran released and it took director Shankar three years to complete 2.0. Between then and now, here’s a look at Rajinikanth’s choice in films and how it has affected his career graph.
Kochadaiiyaan (2014)
After Enthiran’s dream run at the box office, Rajinikanth returned to the big screen after four years with Kochadaiiyaan. The film, which marked Rajinikanth’s daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth’s debut as a director, failed spectacularly at the box office. Written by KS Ravikumar, Kochadaiiyaan had Deepika Padukone as the female lead. The film released in five languages - Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Punjabi - other than Tamil.
The failure of this film was something that Rajini had expected. “Soundarya is a genius. Working with intelligent people is easy. But, we should be careful with geniuses. She listed out a post-production budget to enhance the film’s final version. But, I was sure that this film wouldn’t be successful. So, I insisted on releasing the film with the same version,” he said later.
Lingaa (2014)
Directed by KS Ravikumar, Lingaa had Rajinikanth in a double role with Anushka Shetty and Sonakshi Sinha cast opposite him. This film too failed at the box office with critics trashing it as well. Speaking at the audio launch of his film Kaala, the actor had explained that he had decided to work in Lingaa because of the theme of the film, which was close to his heart.
He said, “I agreed to the story because the main story revolved around building a dam and interlinking of rivers was also a subplot. Interlinking of rivers is my lifetime dream, so I gave my nod immediately. However, the film flunked at the box-office. Critics, in no time, wrote me off. They have been doing that for 40 years of my career. But, I bounced back every single time.”
Kabali (2016)
Kabali was the first of the two films marking Rajini and Pa Ranjith’s collaboration. The film received mixed reviews from fans and critics. While fans had lamented that the film was not the usual Rajinikanth fare, the critics said that the film lacked the punch that was needed to make it memorable. Kabali, however, turned out to be one of the highest grossers of 2016 and collected Rs 250 crore in the first week of its release, according to its producers. This film also gave way to another collaboration between the actor and director, where the star took a backseat and the story came first.
Kaala (2018)
After Kabali, Rajinikanth and Pa Ranjith worked together again on Kaala, produced by the actor’s son-in-law Dhanush’s Wunderbar Films. Speaking of the second collaboration, Rajini had said at the music launch of the film, “I warned Ranjith that Kaala should be a Rajinikanth film in Ranjith’s style unlike Kabali, which was a Ranjith movie. There’s politics in Kaala but it’s not a political drama.” The film did not reflect Rajinikanth’s personal politics, but was appreciated by critics for the nuanced portrayal of caste. The film received mixed reactions from fans and failed to live up to expectations set by Kabali.
Petta - 2019 (to be released)
Even as Kaala released, Rajinikanth announced his next project with director Karthik Subbaraj whose work includes Pizza, Jigarthanda, Iraivi and Mercury. Petta was also the first film that the actor signed after announcing his entry into politics in December 2017. The film has stunning cast that includes Vijay Sethupathi, Simran, Trisha, M Sasikumar and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Karthik has promised that this would be Rajini-esque film and said to IANS, “It has been my dream to make a film with Rajini sir. I grew up watching his films. And I was sure I would direct a film with him someday. I never thought would happen so early.”
Karthik also said that this film would not have political overtones and is a lighthearted film The film produced by Sun Pictures is slated to release for Pongal and will clash at the box office with Ajith’s Viswasam.
Follow @htshowbiz for more
First Published: Nov 27, 2018 13:50 IST
