The Path of Endhiran the Robot

The Tamil movie industry’s most expensive film to date is set for a worldwide release next month

THE MOST expensive Tamil movie ever made will be released worldwide sometime in September in three languages – Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

Made at a whopping cost of US$43 million (RM137 million), Endhiran will be released in more than 2,000 prints, the biggest ever for an Indian film.

The story centres on scientist Dr Vasigaran who invents an intelligent robot which looks like a human being and which he names Chitti. Then the scientist introduces Chitti to the human environment, leading to some interesting incidents.

How the film was conceptualised and produced makes an interesting story too.

Endhiran director S. Shankar first announced this project in 2001 with Tamil award-winning actor Kamal Haasan and Bollywood actress Preity Zinta in the lead roles. But the sci-fi project got postponed due to financial constraints and the director went on to make other movies such as Boys and Anniyan.

In July 2007, Shankar revived the project and wanted to rope in Bollywood top actor Shah Rukh Khan to play the lead. But four months later, the project fell through. It was reported that Shah Rukh described the script as "half-baked and dull".

Later, popular Tamil actor Ajit Kumar and talented Bollywood actor Aamir Khan were considered for the role. But in the end, the director settled for Tamil movie superstar Rajnikanth. Both had worked together in Sivaji: The Boss, which became one of India’s biggest box-office hits of 2007.

It is obvious that Rajnikanth respects Shankar highly. And, in contrast to Shah Rukh’s remarks, Rajnikanth described Shankar as a "trusted and excellent scriptwriter".

Several popular actresses from Bollywood and Kollywood (the Tamil movie industry) were considered for the female lead in Endhiran, including Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Asin Thottumkal and Trisha Krishnan.

But the role went to former beauty queen Aishwarya Rai, who was reportedly paid a huge remuneration, making her the highest paid actress in India for 2008.

Other well-known names, including Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, were also put forward to play the role of the villain. In the end, Bollywood actor Danny Denzongpa was chosen.

It is speculated that Amitabh, whose son Abishek is married to Aishwarya, might make a cameo appearance at the movie’s climax. Apparently, the director had used Aishwarya to persuade her father-in-law to make a special appearance. The film was first named Robot but the director had to change it as India’s Tamil Nadu state government only gives tax exemptions to films with Tamil titles. Other suggested titles include Iyandiran and Iyandira, which mean robot in Tamil. Finally, Shankar settled for Endhiran.

The production team visited Vienna in Austria, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, several places in the United States and Hanoi in Vietnam to pick suitable locations.

To make the film, Shankar is said to have used the services of technical experts from the US and Britain, who have worked in Hollywood films such as Lord of the Rings, Matrix, Avatar and I Robot.

On July 31, the movie’s soundtrack, composed by Oscar-winning musician A.R. Rahman, was launched at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre at a glamorous event. It was attended by the movie’s two leads as well as Rahman, Shankar and Tamil stars like Ramya Krishna, Simbhu, Shriya and Jayam Ravi.

A trailer for the film was shown to the invited guests and it appears that Endhiran might just live up to its hype. Then again, it’s hard to judge a movie by its trailer alone. We have seen many impressive trailers only to be disappointed with the end product.