'Kolaveri di' film a test for the Rajinikanth household

Chennai: The real test of the viral fever generated by the “kolaveri di” song four months ago is today when the movie “3” that features the song hits the screens.

Besides the song, the films packs interesting superstar family-combos that can be mixed and matched for delectable trivia.

It pairs generation-next from the families of two Tamil superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, who had stopped acting together years ago. The male lead is played by Dhanush, the “kolaveri” singer, national award winner and Rajinikanth’s son-in-law, while the actress is Shruti Haasan, Kamal’s daughter.

Getting them to act together is Rajinikanth’s elder daughter Aishwarya for whom this is a crucial debut after her sister failed to take off with an animation flick featuring her father announced nearly five years ago.

In fact, for Dhanush, an already established and bankable commercial star, the fate of the film doesn’t matter much. Neither would it make any major difference to Shruti Haasan who has established herself as an A-lister in both Tamil and Telugu. But for the Rajinikanth household, or his daughters to be precise, this is a huge test.

Rajinikanth’s daughters have been trying hard to establish themselves in the film industry for a while. The first to try her hands was the younger daughter Soundarya, who started with animation and graphics and subsequently turned producer-director. Although she did reasonably well as a graphics-specialist and producer, her big-ticket entry failed to take off.

In 2007, she announced a big-budget animation flick featuring her father titled “Sultan” with Adlabs. Other than enormous hype and a trailer that promised to present Rajinikanth in a never-before-seen avatar; and bitter legal tussles with Reliance Media Works (RMW) , and a Chennai financier, nothing worthwhile came off the venture.

Nobody knows about the fate of the movie although industry grapevine says that even attempts to rehash the movie didn’t work because it didn’t turn out the way it was meant to. All eyes are now on her latest venture, Kochadaiyaan, another animation flick featuring her father, that is currently under production.

Aishwarya on the other hand apprenticed under Dhanush’s director-brother Selvaraghavan and ventured into direction. With a bankable star at home, it has not been difficult so far.  Pairing him with Shruti Haasan was seen as a casting coup and the “kolaveri” song has provided unprecedented pre-release hype. The movie even led to some gossip linking the lead pair.

The movie will definitely get a good “initial” (the industry term for the crucial initial box office collections) as all the theatres in Chennai have recorded good advance booking.

Nothing of the film has been given out and so far most of the promotional activities have centred around the “kolaveri” song. Teaser tailors show class-room romance leading to speculation that at least some part of the movie is about teenage romance. Local FM radio stations have also been running promotional programmes, but without giving any hint on the plot or the twists.

Meanwhile, the producers of the film have obtained an order from the Chennai High Court that makes the internet service providers responsible for any online piracy attempt against the movie.

The “kolaveri” is over. Now, let the first-day first-show decide its future.