Kochadaiiyaan is compared to Avatar in the marketing, though with the older actor given a younger body and entire motion-capture framework, it is most similar to Beowulf. Rajinikanth will play three roles, and teaser footage has been released to show off some of the effects work. The female lead is 27 year old Deepika Padukone, which means Rajinikanth is only 35 years older than her. Rajinikanth plays father and son Kochadaiiyaan and Rana, and Rana is a character that Rajinikanth was set to play in a postponed film, of which Kochadaiiyaan is now considered a prequel. Other cast members include R. Sarathkumar, Shobana, Aadhi, Rukmini Vijayakumar, Jackie Shroff, and Nassar
An interesting note on Kochadaiiyaan is the director is Soundarya R. Ashwin, Rajinikanth’s younger daughter! When your dad is one of the biggest stars in Asia, glass ceiling shatter themselves. There is a nice interview with her at Times of India. This is the second attempt to do a motion-capture Rajinikanth film, the first was called Sultan: The Warrior, but that project fell through.
This film looks pretty ridiculous, but Rajinikanth is very popular and the teaser footage shot up in views like wildfires. So maybe it will be a smash hit. I personally don’t care if it is ludicrous, as long as it is entertaining, I will be there will bells on!
