May 04 2011
Rana Takes Off
After every Rajni movie is released, there is usually a lull when rumors about his next movie begin to swirl. Articles – sometimes, cover stories too – are written, fan-made posters are created, social networking sites begin to buzz and email forwards increase as these rumors begin to spread(I remember atleast two titles Jaggubhai (after Baba) and Aadhisesha(after Chandramukhi) that were discussed. While the former was eventually used for a Sarathkumar film, the latter, which was announced in a Kungumam cover story, became the bad guy’s name in Sivaji!).
With Endhiran released, such rumors began to swirl again a few months ago. A popular rumor was that Rajni’s next project would be Baasha 2, with news stories getting circulated about Rajni meeting R.M.Veerappan, the producer of Baasha, to talk about the sequel. But within a surprisingly short time, the rumors were squashed as Rajni’s next film was officially announced and then launched last week. Titled Rana, the film will be directed by K.S.Ravikumar and have music by A.R.Rahman.
The launch happened with a poster that led to mixed feelings. The composition is good with a warrior standing in the forefront with a masked face(Rajni?) towering over him in the background. But the poster’s quality left a lot to be desired with warrior Rajni looking painted and/or photoshopped, giving the poster a slightly cheap feel. In fact, I waited a day to ensure that it wasn’t a poster made by a fan.
The film’s cast has also been subject to much speculation and rumors. With Rajni supposedly playing 3 roles, young, middle-aged and old, there are 3 heroine slots open. Deepika Padukone was finalized pretty soon as the heroine for the youngest role but the other 2 roles are still to be filled. Anushka, Ileana and Vidya Balan were names suggested as middle-aged Rajni’s jodi while Tabu and Rekha were mentioned for the older Rajni’s pair. The only other role fixed is the comedian’s role. While Vadivelu was the first choice, Ganja Karuppu has now been picked since Vadivelu’s political campaigning and his personal attacks on Vijayakanth were considered too strong.
The film’s puja took place last week. But it wasn’t a smooth start since Rajni fell ill right after the puja and had to be hospitalized. Though it was apparently just a case of dehydration and he was back home in a day, he has been advised rest and so shooting hasn’t resumed yet.
With the mega success of Sivaji and Enthiran/Robot, brand Rajni is now bigger than ever and Rana will come with unprecedented hype and expectations. Let’s hope the Rana team is up to the task.
15 responses so far
Although I am not going to be looking for another movie with Endhiran-like quality from KS Ravikumar, I am happy that his movies usually are quickly produced/directed. So, we might see thalaivar on the big screen sooner than later.
Having said that, I’ll take KS Ravikumar any day over P.Vasu.
-Rajesh
The person in the background is Tabu…. she is supposed to play the heroine for older Rajini…
Rajni hospitalized again with bronchitis and viral infection. Wishing him speedy recovery
Soundarya’s misfortunes as a producer continues with Goa (flop), Sultan (unreleased and incomplete) and now Rana (not starting).
Komala
Felt aghast looking at the poster…
Why am i against casting Bollywood beauties in Tamil movies? That being said am also against Mani Ratnam eyeing bilinguals and trilinguals and going for multi lingual cast. Damn shame!! Rana spanning 3 generations is quite intriguing …fingers crossed!!!
Balaji,
Though KSR and Soundarya Rajnikanth have denied that Rana is not Sultan the warrior,the look of the posters make us think otherwise.
My guess is Rana story was built around whatever sequences Rajini shot for Sultan The warrior so that the money spent by his daughter doesnt go waste
Balaji, FYKI the shooting is very much on with a song being shot with Deepika..!
In the press meet,KSR said tabu has not been confirmed yet.So that masked face in the poster should also be Rajini.A full length period film,that too a story of warrior sounds interesting.Ksr has also said in press meet that enough research has been done to bring the look of 17th century on the screen.Also another important aspect is story has been written by rajini himself and KSR mentioned it as very intense.Hope with Ksr’s assiatance Rajini’s writing skills will see the limelight atleast this time.Expecting a punch packed movie like muthu and padayappa from KSR…
With KSR/Rajini combo, I am not expecting any production values, attention to detail or subtlety. KSR is just a “better version” of P.vasu – old style film making with loud sentiments, archaic action sequences, typical camera angles, mgr-film-like color grading.
And the poster doesn’t show any quality either
I hate to say this but last 2 KSR movies were washout. Jaggu bhai & M.Pambu were disasters. I would’ve loved if Gautam Menon or Simbhudevan directed this movie.
Komala
After working with shankar,definitely rajini will concentrate on production values and attention to detail. That was evident when ksr said rajini gave him many books that had detailing about 17th century. Also rathnavelu in an interview said that immense care has been taken to bring the feel of 17th century and they have collected details about war methods,furnitures,palaces,costumes etc.,ksr is not a great director and at the same time,not a bad director too. Surely,he would do a better job than simbu devan. Leave off robot,a science fiction but if u take sivaji,then in my opiniod, ksr has definitely done a better job in muthu and padayappa than what shankar did in sivaji. M A failure cannot be attributed to ksr at all and aadhavan that came before jaggubhai was a decent hit…
while I agree that Jaggu bhai was a stupid movie, I thought that MMA was a pretty good movie let down by a pretty rushed & weak climax. But then again that’s just the Kamal fan in me that’s talking and I really don’t think that KSR is a hack that some posters above are suggesting him to be.
that said, I’m looking fwd to Rana – of the 3 roles, I hope that one of them will allow Rajini to be in a negative shade so that he can do some REAL acting and tear up the screen like in the good ol’ days
Rajesh, yes KSR does churn out his movies quickly(though ‘Dasaavathaaram’ had its share of delays). then again, that’s what I said about P.Vasu before ‘Kuselan’ came out! But yes, KSR over PV any day…
Kay, KSR did say that the other 2 heroines haven’t been finalized. And I doubt if any heroine’s pic would tower over Rajni’s pic in a poster
So I still think its Rajni.
komala, yeah too bad. I’m now wondering if ‘Sultan’ would ever see the light of day.
and since its a period movie not sure Gautam Menon would’ve been the right pick. Chimbudevan’s satirical style also may not be what Rajni’s looking for. So though I’m not a fan of KSR, I’m not sure who else Rajni could’ve gone with.
Meera, I guess a Bollywood heroine for ‘Rana’ makes sense since it’ll increase the movie’s pan Indian appeal. That’s probably the same reason Mani chooses an multilingual cast too!
Jey, since Soundarya and KSR denied it so vehemently, I’m thinking this is a new film. But if ‘Rana’ includes any animation sequences at all under any pretext, guess we’ll know where they came from
Prasad, yes I read that. I was thinking of Rajni taking part in the shooting when I said its postponed.
prabhu, many others like the cinematographer and art director are also talking about the detailed research for the period film. Hope it shows on screen.
vijay, sadly, I gotta agree with u on KSR. Its disappointing that Rajni went with him instead of one of the newer directors. Guess he looked at past records rather than current situation!
Prabhu, I sure hope what u said is true. Tamil cinema has made several advances in production values and technical stuff and after ‘Sivaji’ and ‘Enthiran’, expectations in those departments have gone up in Rajni films also. So hope he pays attention to everything in ‘Rana’.
InnocentBlood, I too kinda liked MMA until it turned into slapstick towards the end.
Considering how his negative roles in Chandramukhi and Enthiran were received, I too am hoping for the same in ‘Rana’.
Frankly speaking, there are not many mass directors in tamil cinema, who can make the type of ‘Rajnikanth’ movie. KS Ravikumar is the Best Bet, i didint like his last few movies. Didit have the excitement over “Rana” yet, another factor is the Boring looking poster, Deepika looks like a miscast to Rajni, Rajni morever writting the script. Remember “Baba” and “Vaali” anyone?, periodic setting somemore…My Hopes are not there…
Balaji, of you doubting Tabu’s eyes in the poster – I believe Thalaivar broke that format in Chandramukhi itself. Starting from the movie title, the entire show belonged to Jo. Though Rajni had his share of moments, he let Jo supersede him. Which makes me believe that there is every chance that it could be Tabu, since that also come in a big surprise for the audience.
What say?
Reports are that Rana may be dropped. From the day of announcement of rana,rajini’s health is not in good terms. The recent rumour has affected his family a lot it seems. Also he got admitted in SRMC hospital yesterday for the third time. So emotionally they are not ready to proceed with the movie and official announcement will be made soon it seems…