Cinema

30 years of Annamalai...Revisiting Superstar Rajinikanth's ceaseless blockbuster!

By TNSCorrespondent, 27 June, 2022
Annamalai movie, Rajinikanth, Kollywood

(This article is authored by Alar)

Thirty years ago, on  27 June 1992, the story of a poor milkman, and his friend Ashok, a wealthy rich man since childhood was screened in every theatre across and beyond the borders. Little has everyone knew that the story was on its way to etching a legacy of being a ceaseless blockbuster. 

The movie has got a glorious reception and it remains one of the Tamil films to create the phenomenal milestone of celebrating its Silver Jubilee by running successfully for 25 weeks. Superstar Rajinikanth starred classic masala revenge film, 'Annamalai' was helmed by director Suresh Krishna. Earlier, Vasanth was on board to do the direction but got cancelled due to personal issues.

The score and soundtrack were composed by Deva, the first collaboration with Rajinikanth. Lyrics for the songs were penned by Vairamuthu. 'Annamalai' features Rajinikanth, Kushboo and Sarath Babu in lead roles with Radha Ravi, Nizhalgal Ravi and Manorama in supporting roles.

The Friendship and its Ruins:

Annamalai (Rajinikanth) -Ashok (Sarathbabu) relationship occupies the screen presence for the first 30 minutes of the movie. The bond was formed and developed, where Annamalai’s mother Sivagami (Manorama) succeed in bringing the unlikely boys together. 

The relationship is cemented further as the story progresses, and at the mid-point, Annamalai is shattered by the ruthlessness of his friend Ashok's father, played by Radha Ravi. That's when Annamalai swears to his friend that he will someday become rich like Ashok, build big hotels and earn himself fortunes and do everything in his power to demolish the house that Ashok lives in.

From there, the rise of Annamalai was shown, who overcomes his friend in all possible ways and attains a top position, which is completely unimaginable to him and his family. 

The Facts of Annamalai:

Interestingly, Annamalai was a remake of the 1987 Hindi movie 'Khudgarz' starring Jeetendra, and it is based on Jeffrey Archer's Novel 'Kane and Abel'. After the huge hit in Tamil,  It was remade in Telugu in 1993 as Kondapalli Raja and in Kannada in 2003 as Gokarna. Annamalai ran for 175 days and was the highest-grossing film in Tamil cinema until Baashha won over the rank. 

And the surprising fact is Annamalai was the first film to feature the introductory 'Super Star' graphic Title card where Rajinikanth himself showed his objection to this introductory as he felt it was 'self-brazen' and 'embarrassing'. It took a month to complete because "every frame had to be animated by hand" said Prasad Labs which had done the work.

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Superstar Rajinikanth and Sarath Babu in the movie Annamalai 

 

'Annamalai' birthed the first milestone for Tamil cinema to set the trend of having a Hero Introduction Song', and a special background score for the hero. Imagine the pinnacle attained by Annamalai in this way -- when this movie was released, A.R.Rahman wasn't introduced in Kollywood and the stupendous mass stars- Vijay and Ajith hadn't yet made their debuts. If you have rejoiced and reprised a masterpiece dialogue from this movie 'Mala da, Annamalai', you are part of this legacy too.

'Annamalai' is 30 years old!:

Celebrating the milestone, Rajinikanth fans have been tweeting about Annamalai with the hashtag  #30YearsofAnnamalai. Director Suresh Krishna has met actor Rajinikanth to celebrate this and the photo has gone viral on social media. Fans are enthusiastically posting on the internet about the 30th anniversary of the film. 

Kavithalayaa Productions, which bankrolled the movie, took to Twitter on Monday and wrote, "We are happy to see how people celebrate the Annamalai movie even after decades. We feel privileged to have had produced such massive hit movies and work with Thalaivar Rajinikanth." In another tweet, it said, "The first title card of SUPER STAR. Title card was created in ANNAMALAI." 

 

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