An Exclusive Interview With Rajnikanth

Down south he managed the status of a Mega-star for almost a decade. Rajni, as he is referred to by millions of fans, may be short on histrionic talent, but more than makes up for it through his idiosyncratic on-screen mannerisms and a carefully-nurtured defender-of-the-downtrodden image.

What has been your overall role in Baba?
Right from the day Baba was launched, I have been busy with the selection of artistes, shooting dates and other relevant things attached to the making of a film. I wanted to finish the film before July 10 this year and I am proud to say that I have completed it much before that date, thanks to cameraman Chota Naidu, art director GK and director Suresh Krishna. See what an auspicious day it is today with the Kumbhabhishekam at Tiruvamamalai temple. It is also a Thursday. The film will satisfy the expectation of Rajnikanth fans.

The Kaliakambbal temple set erected here has a lot of significance in the film.
Yes. In the film, this temple is next to my house.

How have the fight sequences come out to be?
Very good. I had last worked with action director Vijayan in the Hindi film Mahaguru and after a long gap, it is only now that we are coming together with Baba.

Is it true that there is a Japanese actress in the film?
That’s right. She is playing my sister.

Does the film have politically-loaded dialogues?
I cannot say whether dialogues with political overtones is present or not. But yes, I don’t know in what way the public will interpret it. I have not kept the dialogues to wound anybody or to please anyone.

Ramya was selected overnight for the film.
After lengthy discussions, everyone felt that Ramya was suitable for the role that we had in mind. When we asked her to do it, she readily agreed. Hers is a very different character.

Recently you held a contest in a publication asking readers to send in punch dialogues. Have you used any of them?
Oh yes. Many of them have been used at apt situations.

How was it working with Suresh Krishna?
Suresh was in total control. He looks very simple but he knows what he wants. There was no hassles whatsoever from his side.

Director Suresh Krishna, who too was present, was asked whether is was possible for any director to finish a film of such magnitude in three months?
Director Suresh Krishna said "We started the film on March 24 and shot for 75 days at Mysore, Hyderabad, Switzerland, and Chennai locales. After Veera, Annamalai and Baasha, the expectation from the public has increased. To match up to the public expectations, we have made this film. We have politics in the film and lots of graphics done by our own people as well as Australians. Ramya, as Neelambari, is a surprise element in the film. We have filmed five songs and five fight sequences. Audio cassettes of the film were released on July 15 and the film hit the screen on August 15. Manisha Koirala, Sanghavi, Delhi Ganesh, Nambiar, Sujatha, Goundamani, Senthil, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vijaykumar, Radha Ravi, Ramya, Nasser, Seema, Karunas and Vasu Vikram play key roles in the film with Sayaji Shinde and Amrish Puri appearing in guest roles. For your information, there is no Chiranjeevi or Mohan Babu in the film. Rajnikanth used to report for the shooting at 6 am and would worked for 18 hours a day. This is what made it possible for us to finish the film before the scheduled date. As for Prakash Raj walking out of the film, he was not signed by us for the film in the first place. But he would come and loiter around the sets and leave."