Sep 27 2010
Coming Soon – Enthiran
Considering that Sivaji brought together Rajnikanth, Shankar, A.R.Rahman and AVM Productions, it seemed quite impossible at that time that any other movie could top it. By adding Aishwarya Rai to the mix, selecting a unique genre and having a budget that makes it the most expensive Indian film to date, Enthiran has topped it with ease. After a two year wait, the film arrives this Friday(Thursday if you are lucky enough to be near a theater screening premier shows!) with unprecedented hype and expectations.
Like in the case of Sivaji, any aspect of Enthiran can be selected and there will be a superlative associated with it. Leading it ofcourse is Rajni, who seems to be becoming more popular with every movie. His last 2 films Sivaji and Chandramukhi have confirmed the theory that only a new Rajni film can surpass the previous Rajni film’s box-office take and Enthiran seems poised to reiterate that once again. With over 3 years since the last Rajni film(Kuselan can’t be considered a real Rajni film), the excitement has reached a feverish pitch for his fans all around the world.
Then there’s Shankar, Tamil cinema’s most successful commercial director. Shankar has an uncanny knack for creating grand, well-paced entertainers. Enthiran is certaintly his biggest and riskiest film to date. Whenever Rajni joins hands with a popular director, there’s always the doubt whether the result will be a Rajni film or the director’s film but Sivaji cleared the doubt. While Shankar’s sense of grandeur was evident all through Sivaji, it was definitely a Rajni film as the director showcased the star’s style and charisma in spectacular fashion. So there’s no doubt that Rajni fans are in for a feast yet again.
Ever since Aishwarya Rai stepped into movies, there has been an air of exclusivity around her. While her track record in Hindi movies has been anything but consistent, her Miss World title and the universal appreciation of her beauty has kept her stock high all these years. That’s the reason her Tamil films so far have been event films and why Rajni himself has on several occasions, expressed a desire to work with her. Enthiran finally brings them together and there’s no doubt that her involvement has made it even more talked-about than Sivaji at a pan-Indian level.
Since Roja, any film with A.R.Rahman’s music made news and since capturing 2 Oscars, his stock has risen even higher. Any music director reserves his best for specific directors and his soundtracks for Shankar’s films proves that for ARR, Shankar belongs to that small list. While Enthiran’s album isn’t an unqualified success with two standout numbers and two good songs but Rahman’s tunes, Vairamuthu’s lyrics and the mental images of Rajni’s performance and Shankar’s picturization do help the album achieve the difficult task of meeting the huge expectations.
Given his penchant for visual grandeur and extravagant special effects, a Shankar film by itself will always be an expensive proposition. Taking into consideration the talent associated with Enthiran and the genre, its no surprise that the film has become the most expensive Indian film with a price tag of over 150 crores. It requires a company with deep pockets to not only have the courage to finance it initially but also the strength to market it at the end to recover the investment. Sun Pictures, which picked it up from Ayngharan after the latter developed cold feet because of the ballooning budget, has proved itself upto the task. No expense seems to have been spared for the movie. With an extravagant audio release function and an unprecedented trailer release function the company has marketed the movie remarkably well so that everything associated with it has become an event. With a saturated release strategy, the company is set to easily recover the money and will smile all the way to the bank.
While these big names automatically make Enthiran a big film, its genre is icing on the cake. Tamil cinema has seen several new genres in the past couple of years and Enthiran opens the door to yet another new genre – science fiction – with its story of a robot. While there’s no doubt that Shankar will dress it up with his own brand of masala, it’s understandable considering that its introducing Tamil cinema to a brand new genre. And having taken up the genre, Shankar appears to have gone the whole way with respect to giving life to his vision and imagination.
Let’s get ready for E-day folks!
23 responses so far
Nice write up BB. Like zillions, I too am just waiting to catch up Endhiran. Though am not lucky like many since I would be catching it up only on the 2nd day. The scenes out here are marvellous as everyone wants to see the movie on the 1st day. Exorbitant prices don’t seem to matter much for many as all that matters is to catch a glimpse of thalaivar. And am sure the movie’s gonna be a feast for all thalaivar fans as he is gonna rock in triple roles. Let the festivity start.
- Prasanna
Great write up Balaji, but the only dampener is that Endhiran seems more like the remake of 2002 Kannada movie”Hollywood” by Upendra. Tamil audiences have now developed a taste for original,good, classy movies and if endhiran is a remake on a large canvass, people may have second thoughts on watching it. OFF TOPIC: what’s ur opinion on “Singam” being one of the movies sent from tamil film industry to the selection committee for an official entry to the oscars
Balaji,
nice write up! But the “fan” in you kinda of showing up so enthusiastically — nothing wrong in that…………But,
“His last 2 films Sivaji and Chandramukhi have confirmed the theory that only a new Rajni film can surpass the previous Rajni film’s box-office take and Enthiran seems poised to reiterate that once again” — not true enitrely!
Without any big names like Shankar/ARR, Dasavatharam (though you did not like!) raked in more than double that of Sivaji, because of only Kamal! So, now Enthiran has to surpass Dasa and Sivaji to become the no. 1 all time tamil movie!!!!!!!!!!
This is because the “fan” in me is jumping out!!!!
So, now Enthiran has to surppass Dasa, not Sivaji to become the no.1 all time tamil movie!!!!!!!! —–it should read.
Balaji, read this one?
http://www.slate.com/id/2267820/pagenum/all/#p2
When I read it, sounded good to me (for introducing Rajini to outside tamil world audience). But seeing the comments, seems that lot of Rajini fans are offended by it! What am I missing here?!!!
Balaji,
this one is better written, for sure……….
http://business.in.com/article/recliner/why-rajinikanth-rocks/17592/0
Balaji,
I am so looking forward the the preview show here this Thursday jus tfor the grandeur you mentioned (I am not a big fan of Thalaivar). When did you book your date with Enthiran?
Swaps
I don’t think i’ve ever looked forward to an Indian film more!….i think it will both be a good movie and a successful one….will beat all records for sure!…..i also think it will be better than sivaji (b/c its not just about star power but a sci fi movie) and dashvatharam (which was just awful, imo)…..also, the talk about it being a remake of a kannada film…i don’t buy it…b/c Endhiran is based on an old story by Sujatha (from what i hear)….and even if it is, Shankar will make it better….for example, the whole concept of reporting corruption online to a vigilante in Anniyan came from the malayalam movie 4 The people, but Anniyan was 1,000 x better! (added the multiple personality stuff)….Shankar knows how to make an entertaining and classy product…I think we are in for a royal treat!
Also, Bollywood fans have no right to criticize Rajini after accepting a film like Dabaang….whose success shows that all Indian states love masala…as long as its served up catering to their base….
BB – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305797/usercomments. One of them has also written abt the movie after watching a special screening. One of the line reads – “Also the actors in this movie done a terrible work”. Was that “terrible” or “terrific”?
And the best part is that the reviewer has given Avatar a mere 3/10 stars…According to him, Endhiran(5/10) n Kites(9/10) are better than Avatar. So not sure how true he is.
E-day is Saturday for me.
“Enthiran opens the door to yet another new genre – science fiction”
Not true. Science fiction was introduced by the original Vaathiyar in “Kalai Arasi” released in the late 50s. MGR battles in spaceships with Nambiar being one of the aliens. It was definitely well ahead of its times and my dad says it ran for less than a week. I caught parts of it recently and it was not bad at all.
Hope Enthiran stays true to its times or vice versa.
Prasanna, he he he… i sure how his “magic” works
. Kites with 9/10 flopped. Avatar with 3/10 is the highest grosser in world cinema. I would obviously be very happy if Enthiran follows suit to become an “average” grosser!! in hollywood terms 
.
BB – Ya never know what is in the Ayodhya verdict and what that may lead to. Bad timing of the release.
bb, nice write-up that captures your excitement…
not being a huge rajni fan, i just hope that the movie is entertaining…but with shankar’s recent track record when it comes to the plausibility factor, i hope the movie doesn’t insult the intelligence of the audience…in anniyan and sivaji, there were several moments where I was thinking, “Shankar, you’ve completely thrown realism out the window”…after muthalvan came out, i wrote an article where i called Shankar’s movies “realistic fantasies” meaning that concepts like “one-day CM” were far-fetched but Shankar took great pains to bring a dose of believability to the proceedings…i hope that after enthiran, i dont feel the need to write an article titled, “unrealistic fantasy!” not that rajni or shankar would care but still…my 2 cents worth…!
Prasanna, when u say “scenes out here”, I’m guessing u r talking about Chennai. I can quite imagine how things r over there!
prakash, First time I saw it was from avantika’s link in the prev post. Does seem like a similar storyline but can’t say much until we see the film.
As for ‘Singam’, not sure how it even made it and what they were thinking!
apala, I remember reading that Sivaji was the highest grosser and Dasa was the 2nd. So not sure how u say that Dasa collected twice as much as Sivaji.
Did read the article. It must’ve been the most forwarded link in the last couple of days. It is well-written but some of the lines, if taken literally, can sound bad and thats probably why so many are commenting about it.
Swapna, Thursday ofcourse
Vimal, “I think we are in for a royal treat!” – I think so too! And since Shankar has done only original stories so far, it’ll be a surprise if he picked the story from another film.
Vijay Kumar, I did hear about ‘kalai arasi’. but considering its been so long since it released, very few people have heard of it and no film followed it, ‘enthiran’ can be considered as opening the door I think.
Ven, gotta see if it affects the Hindi version. Don’t think the Tamil version will be affected.
ram, I still think he strived to bring the dose of realism in Sivaji and Anniyan also. But yes, there were several slip-ups in logic too, especially in Anniyan. considering the time he has spent on ‘enthiran’, I hope its a tighter script.
Yea Balaji, I was referring to Chennai. Its at its peak now and everyone r talking only abt Endhiran. Can’t wait to see it.
Balaji,
Dasa was the first movie to break the Rs.200 crore barrier…………
There are many places you can find the collection reports……….easiest being Wiki! (Sivaji made 128 C but Dasa made 250+C).
I think this is the wiki page apala was referring:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_Tamil-language_films#cite_note-1
This is rather misleading I have to say. It is as if a Kamal fan edited the page, swapped Sivaji with Dasavatharam but forgot to change the sources (”notes” of links directing to the relevant reference is wrong). People should know better when citing from wiki – anyone can add/ remove/ modify it and information on it is often wrong.
Even if “Dasa” earned more, what does it matter?….it was a horrible horrible movie…one of the characters had his cancer cured by getting shot!
@K.Raj,
Generally I don’t give a damn about BO collection of movies……..Anbe Sivam, Guna, Maha Nadhi are among my MOST FAVORITE movies and I know that they did not fare well at BO — which do not change my appreciation for them. The same way, there are movies (with many STARS (Super, Supreme, Ultimate, Ilaya…….does not matter) which made LOT of money but for me they are just total craps.
Dasa is not the best of Kamal (with a better director it would have been much more enjoyable but keeping it simple KSR could take it to the masses …….. and Kamal needed that once in while (’cos his salary was Rs. 7C + 26% of profit, ya know, he needs to let KSR have his way!!!)), but still it’s not really bad, given the budget of 60 crores. But the reason why I brought in the collection report (there are many —- google it and you will find) as it made 250+ crores compared to Sivaji’s 128 Crores.
So whether you want to believe it or not does not matter…….that’s the truth!!! Just wanted to correct Balaji when he said only Rajini has to beat Rajini’s records (Kamal, though chose to run a completely different race, all through his carrier beat Rajini and that’s why we keep comparing them!!!) recently VV and Dasa are proofs for that. That’s all I wanted to inform Balaji.
career mixed up with carrier!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!
Balaji,
it looks like the initial reports are VERY POSITIVE for ROBOT!
So, when is the party dude!!!?!!