Unspinning the news on Rajinikanth’s 173rd film

Rajinikanth’s 173^rd film has been dominating film news headlines since its announcement in September this year. The project brought together Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth after 46 years.

With both superstars enjoying huge fame and fanatical followings, there are many among the current generation of audiences that would not know that the two careers were intertwined for many years. Rajinikanth began his film career in a small but important role in the Kamal Haasan starrer, Aboorva Raagangall directed by K. Balachander.

Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth have shared the screen in 21 films across five languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Seven of these films were directed by K. Balachander.

During the filming of the bilingual film Allahudhinum Arputha Villakam, they both took a decision not to co-star in a film again. Kamal Haasan felt that Rajinikanth’s growth as an actor was being stunted and Rajinikanth agreed.

Nobody quite knows why they have both had a change of heat about this agreement, but the pressure from the film world undoubtedly played a role.

The decision to have Sundar C help the project came as a surprise to many. Sundar C had directed Rajinikanth’s Arunachallam and was credited as directror for Kamal Haasan’s Anbe Sivam – although most know that Kamal Haasan himself shadow directed this film. Apart from this, Sundar C is best known for his commercial films and did not seem to fit the profile of helming a major project like Rajinikanth’s 173^rd film.

His sudden exit from the project – just days after the official announcement indicating that he would direct he film – was bizarre and did not really dismay too many fans. By not giving a reason for opting out, Sundar C has opened the door to trolling on social media and a climate of wild theories about why he decided to drop the project.

This has been exacerbated by the fact that neither Kamal Haasan nor Rajinikanth seemed fazed by the move, suggesting to the casual onlooker that they were quite happy about his exit.

This weekend, Kamal Haasan’s comment that Rajinikanth needed to be fully satisfied with the script and that they were therefore still searching for a director, raises some interesting points. Is it possible that the project was announced before the finalisation of a script? How does the reunion of two superstars not necessitate a complete and innovative script? Was Sundar a convenient choice by Rajinikanth because of the success of Aranmanai 4 and was this choice then vetoed by Kamal Haasan when he heard the actual script? Chances are that the general public would probably never get to know the truth.

This now raises the question of who will direct this important film: It is unlikely to be Lokesh Kanagaraj, as Coolie did not quite live up to expectations. Abishan Jeevinth is a director that Rajinikanth admires, but has only one film to his credit and he has not yet proven his ability in other genres. Anbariv have not yet made their directorial debut. It is my view that Rajesh M Selva might be a good choice if the film is going to be an action or thriller. If it is going to be an experimental film (most unlikely), Kamal Haasan might choose to direct it himself.

While this is being finalised, the close collaboration between these two giants have now paved the way for the two of them to reunite on screen – a project that would be costly to produce but – if handled correctly – could be the first Tamil film to cross the 1000-core mark.