This is the most descriptive article about Endhiran, its prospects, budget in recent times. Though there are some factual errors here and there in the article one can ignore them and have a sneak peek through the article since there are some valuable inputs from experts.

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The Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was reportedly cast in Robot to boost the film’s appeal for Hindi speakers. David Heerde / Rex Features

The film Robot features a dancing android built by the special effects team behind Terminator and Predator and outfitted by a costumier to the stars. But the flick is not a product of Hollywood or even Bollywood, India’s mainstream Hindi film industry. Robot is being shot in Tamil, an Indian language spoken by just 77 million people worldwide.

Robot (or Endhiran in Tamil) is the first film in Indian cinema history to marry south Asian talent with Hollywood technical expertise. It’s a union that will cost an estimated $24 million (Dh88m), the biggest budget ever for an Indian film. To recoup costs, producers hope to break new ground. Most Tamil films have a limited audience, but Robot is pitching for a global market.

The sci-fi flick will include all the traditional elements of a Tamil film – singing, dancing, romance, comedy and improbable martial arts displays. It will star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Rajinikanth, two of India’s top actors, and a dancing, fighting android created by Stan Winston Studio, Hollywood’s leading special effects team.

Jack Rajasekar, a spokesman for Stan Winston Studio, confirms that the company has been working on the film for about 18 months and that it is the first Indian film to which the studio has contributed. He says the android will be a replica of Rajinikanth, who was in Hollywood recently to help programme it.

He says the *android will be a replica of Rajinikanth, who was in Hollywood recently to help programme it.

(* android = An automaton that resembles a human being)

“Rajinikanth was all wired up and working very hard on many things like stunts and dance movements,” Rajasekar says.

Other international names to appear in the credits include Mary E Vogt, a Hollywood costumier who outfitted out the caped crusader in Batman Returns as well as a troop of aliens in Men in Black. AR Rahman, the Chennai-based composer who won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, will compose the music. And Woo-Ping Yuen, who worked on Kill Bill and The Matrix, has reportedly signed on as the film’s fight scene choreographer.

It’s unheard of for an Indian film to rely so heavily on foreign input, but the producers of Robot are sparing little expense. A source at Sun TV Network, the Chennai-based production company behind the movie, says that even Rai Bachchan’s make-up artist is Hollywood-based and was flown to the set in Peru.

The film’s director, S Shankar, who has made a string of Tamil film hits, is famously extravagant. During the making of his last film, Shivaji the Boss, he sparred frequently with producers over the budget. SC Babu, the chief executive officer of AVM Productions, which produced Shivaji, says Shankar insisted that the company buy rights for the 1933 Hollywood film King Kong. AVM caved and paid $30,000 (Dh110,000) for a portion of the movie. In the final cut, King Kong appears on screen for a few seconds during a car chase scene at a cinema.

“We wanted to use another film to save costs, but the director insisted that we use King Kong so that the car could burst through King Kong’s mouth,” Babu says.

It’s taken Shankar years to get Robot off the ground. Initially he roped in Shahrukh Khan, one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, to play the lead. But Khan pulled out and the role went to Rajinikanth.

Rajinikanth approached AVM to produce the film, but the studio knocked it back, leaving the way open for the UK-based Tamil film distribution company Ayngaran to buy the option. Ayngaran began working on the project in 2007, but last December it sold Robot to Sun TV Network, which owns a string of TV stations in south India. Vijay Kumar, an executive producer at Ayngaran, says that the company was hit by the recession and could no longer afford to fund the film.

“It was a dream project that we were into for a year and a half,” Kumar says. “But we had budget concerns in the recession and we ran out of money.”

He would not disclose how much Sun TV Network paid for the film, but says that Ayngaran didn’t make a profit from the sale and only covered what had already been spent on the production.

Now under the control of Sun TV Network, Robot is in its forth month of shooting and is expected to take another year to complete, with shoots planned for Brazil, India and Hong Kong.

Shankar is an extremely private director and guards his sets heavily to prevent leaks. Even mobile phones are forbidden. When pictures of an Incan-themed dance sequence at Machu Picchu in Peru hit the internet, Shankar is believed to have ordered a full-scale investigation into the security breach.

R Madhesh, a director who has worked with Shankar, says he has long insisted on complete confidentiality, and only shows the script to about four people involved in the film, including the assistant director and the cinematographer. Even the lead actors aren’t privy to it and must make do with a brief plot outline to prepare for the role. “They only see their lines the evening before the shoot,” Madhesh says.

Even the lead actors aren’t privy to it and must make do with a brief plot outline to prepare for the role. “They only see their lines the evening before the shoot,” Madhesh says.

Many say it’s no surprise that India’s most extravagant film is a product of Tamil Nadu. The state’s passion for film is legendary. “Tamil people idolise actors. It’s a crazy addiction,” says Gayatri, a Chennai-based film writer. “Nowhere else in India do you see such an intense fan culture.”

Only 15 per cent of Indians speak the Tamil language, but the southern state is home to the country’s third largest film industry, valued at about $240m (Dh881m) a year. It’s a testament to Tamilians’ passion for cinema that most of the state’s chief ministers have hailed from the industry. The 2009 elections will be a race against Jayalalitha, a former screen actress and M Karunanidhi, a former script writer.

Robot is not the first mega production in Tamil. Shivaji the Boss, which AVM released in 2007, cost $12m (Dh44m) to make, according to the studio.

Shivaji and Robot have much in common. Both films star Rajinikanth, are directed by Shankar and will feature a soundtrack by Rahman.

The international success of Shivaji bodes well for Robot. AVM estimates that the film reaped $30m (Dh110m) internationally, making it one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. In Tamil Nadu the movie broke all box office records, and in the UK it became the first south Indian film to enter the mainstream top 10. The film was also screened in America, Canada, the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Mauritius and western Europe.

The international success of Shivaji bodes well for Robot. AVM estimates that the film reaped $30m (Dh110m) internationally, making it one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. In Tamil Nadu the movie broke all box office records, and in the UK it became the first south Indian film to enter the mainstream top 10.

But despite its geographical reach, Shivaji the Boss had a limited audience. The movie was released in only two languages: an original version in Tamil and a dubbed version in Telugu, the language of the southern state Andhra Pradesh. Babu says that of the 800 prints distributed globally, only two were subtitled in English.

Most of the people who paid to see Shivaji the Boss at the cinema were of south Indian origin, but the producers of Robot hope to entice audiences from across the subcontinent and Indian diaspora. It’s understood that the film will be dubbed into Hindi as well Telugu, and possibly even English.

Ramanujam, the chief editor of the trade journal Tamil Nadu Entertainment, says that producers are trying to broaden the film’s market. “Robot is not really a domestic Tamil film,” he says. “It will be an international film.”

Ramanujam, the chief editor of the trade journal Tamil Nadu Entertainment, says that producers are trying to broaden the film’s market. “Robot is not really a domestic Tamil film,” he says. “It will be an international film.”

He adds that Rai Bachchan was cast to increase the film’s appeal for Hindi speakers, of whom there are more than 700 million worldwide. The former Miss World is the reigning queen of Bollywood, and one of the few Indian actors with an international profile. She was paid an estimated $1m (Dh3.6m) to star in Robot.

Marketing for Robot is yet to begin, but there’s already a buzz in the film industry.

“It will rock,” says the Chennai-based film writer R Ravishankar. “With such a magical combination of talent it won’t fail.” He says Rajinikanth, who was paid an estimated $5m (Dh18m) to play the lead, will be the main draw for Tamil audiences. “No Tamil star this decade can match Rajinikanth’s presence on screen. He even has fans who are babies. He may not be the best actor but no one has his charisma,” Ravishankar says.

“No Tamil star this decade can match Rajinikanth’s presence on screen. He even has fans who are babies. He may not be the best actor but no one has his charisma,” Ravishankar says.

A former bus driver from Bangalore, Rajinikanth is part comedian, part action hero. On screen he woos women half his age and performs impossible feats of courage. “My favourite Rajinikanth moment is when he throws a knife at a bullet coming towards him. He cuts the bullet in half and the two halves kill the villains,” Gayatri says.

If Rajinikanth can work his magic beyond his Tamil fan-base, then the producers of Robot will have achieved their true objective: to make a Tamil film that trumps Bollywood.



http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090514/ART/705139976/1208

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