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Sivaji: The Boss
File:Sivajirajinishriya.jpg
An early poster for the opening day of production
Directed byS. Shankar
Written byStory:
S. Shankar
Dialogue:
Sujatha
Produced byM. S. Guhan
M. Saravanan
StarringRajinikanth
Shriya Saran
Suman
Vivek
Raghuvaran
Manivannan
Nayantara
CinematographyK. V. Anand
Edited byAnthony
Music byA. R. Rahman
Distributed byIndia AVM
Malaysia Pyramid
Ayngaran
Release dates
Soundtrack:
April 2, 2007
Film:
India June 15, 2007
June 14, 2007
Running time
185 min.
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
BudgetRs.96 Crore[1][2] (960 million)
$23 Million

Sivaji: The Boss (Tamil: சிவாஜி; Telugu: శివజ) is a Tamil language film, directed by noted director, S. Shankar. It stars Rajinikanth, Shriya Saran, Vivek and Suman in the lead roles with Nayantara, Manivannan, Raghuvaran and Shankar himself in other pivotal roles. The movie was subsequently dubbed into the Telugu language and released. The film's score and soundtrack was written by acclaimed composer, A. R. Rahman, with lyrics from four lyricists. The film, prior to release, gave rise to great expectations due to the number of high-profile artists involved with its creation. The post-production stage was completed towards the end of March and an official trailer was released late in May 2007. The movie was released on June 15, 2007 in over 2500 theatres worldwide,[3] after several postponements,[4][5] and has opened to rave reviews.

The film re-wrote several Indian box-office records prior to release. It is the costliest production to date; costing about Rs. 80 Crores excluding Rajni's salary[1] of 16 crores.[2] The record for the costliest Indian production was previously held by the 2002 Bollywood film, Devdas which cost Rs. 52 Crores. Rajinikanth became the highest paid actor in India, receiving 16 crore rupees for his role in the movie.[2] Films by other major Tamil actors have been pushed to release much after Sivaji; actors and producers do not wish for their films to compete with Rajnikanth's.[6]

Plot

[edit]

Sivaji (Rajinikanth) is a Software Systems Architect who returns home after working hard for many years in USA. With Rs.200 crore budget he wants to setup a charity medical college and hospital. Adiseshan (Suman) is a politically influential businessman who plots his downfall and Sivaji ends up losing all his money. The rest of the movie revolves around how he starts from scratch to get back his money and resume development of his foundation. In the process he realizes the extent of black money trading that goes on and he manages to divert all of that toward charitable development of his State.

Cast

[edit]
  • Rajinikanth as Sivaji: Since the early days of his career, Director S. Shankar had constantly mentioned his desire to work with Rajinikanth, and he had even wrote a tailor-made script for him for his 2000-release Mudhalvan before Rajinkanth had turned it down. After the official announcement of the combination, the film had become much awaited among critics and fans alike. Rajinikanth's character Sivaji is a rich NRI software system architect from the United States, in his late 30s, who returns to his native Tamil Nadu only to find about various mishaps in the education system and the widespread poverty. He is pitted against Adiseshan, who refuses to let him get involved in the proceedings. His parents are played by Manivannan and Vadivvukarasi respectively while his female lover is Tamizhselvi. Since the movie's release, Rajinikanth has received positive reviews for his portrayal by critics.
  • Shriya Saran as Tamizhselvi: After filming the movie, she has signed up for movie productions with three other leading South Indian actors. Her character Tamizhselvi, is the daughter of the characters played by Pattimadram Raja and small-screen actress and Former News Anchor Uma. During the course of the film, Tamizhselvi is taunted by Sivaji, who falls in love with her, despite being initially rejected because of his horoscope; although she states that it is due to his dark complexion. She finally succumbs to his love and gets married to him.
  • Vivek as Arivu: Vivek, who had appeared in the last couple of Shankar's film, played the role of Sivaji 's maternal uncle. His character Arivu provided the comic relief in the film and played a key role in assisting Sivaji to win over Tamizhselvi. Despite having a minimal role in the second half, Vivek won praise for his role, with some critics claiming it had been his best performance since Anniyan.
  • Suman as Adisheshan: Suman, making his comeback to Tamil cinema plays Adisheshan a rich and influential industrialist running schools and charitable hospitals to exploit money from the poor. Throughout the film he is clad in white clothes. His character plays a polished villain who is the main hindrance in Sivaji's social works.

Development

[edit]

It is believed that Shankar wished to direct films starring South India's two major actors, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth after directing Kadhalan in 1994. In partly fulfilling this desire, Shankar next directed Indian with Kamal Haasan in the lead role. Following this, Rajinikanth laurelled praises upon Shankar, showing interest upon a future film with the director. However, Shankar next directed the Prashanth-Aishwarya Rai starrer Jeans, which was also successful at box-offices.

Following Jeans, Shankar wrote a screenplay and a story suitable for a film, with Rajinikanth in the lead role. However, for some reason Rajinikanth did not act in the film.[7] Shankar's film titled, Mudhalvan eventually starred Arjun Sarja and the film was another success for Shankar, who also produced the film himself under his personal banner, S Pictures. Shankar's next film was set to star Kamal Haasan, in a film titled Robot, but the project was shelved so that Shankar could work on Boys.[8] Boys and Anniyan, the 2005 Vikram-starrer were successful; the latter becoming a blockbuster. Post-Anniyan, Shankar took a three-month break in preparation for his next project. Actors such as Chiranjeevi, Salman Khan and Vijay showed interest in acting under his direction but however he did not rush into signing a film.[citation needed]

In October 2005, Chennai's oldest operative studio,[9] AVM Productions, run by M. S. Guhan and M. Saravanan approached Shankar in making a film under their production house. Shankar accepted the offer, generating considerable interest although the cast was yet to be announced. Utilising the huge budget available from AVM, Superstar Rajinikanth was signed for the project. Rajinikanth had just delivered the biggest hit of Tamil film history, Chandramukhi[10] and had not signed up for his next film when the offer was made. The title considered at this stage of production was Super Star but Rajinikanth claimed that he did not want to boast of his status in the cine field. The film was eventually named Sivaji. Rajinikanth's birthname is Sivaji Rao Gaekwad. Hence, Sivaji was chosen for the name of the movie. A tagline, The Boss was suffixed to the title.[11]

Casting

[edit]
File:Sivaji firstday.jpg
An early poster from December 2005 up in Chennai, indicating the start of the project's filming

After the official announcement of the production company, the director and the lead actor, M. S. Guhan and Shankar began to select other members of the cast and the crew to be a part of the Sivaji team, Rajinikanth assisted in helping choose the other members. For his crew, Shankar picked his preferred technicians; with Sujatha as the dialogue writer, K. V. Anand as the cinematographer, Peter Hein as the stunt master, Thotta Tharani as the art director, Vairamuthu as the chief lyricist, Manish Malhotra as the costume designer, Prabhu Deva as the choreographer, Anthony as the editor and J. D. Jerry of Pavithra fame, Balaji Sakthivel of Kaadhal fame, Hosimin of February 14 fame and Gandhi Krishna of Chellamae fame as the team of assistant directors. Also, despite receiving rave reviews for the music composing in Anniyan, Harris Jayaraj was dropped as the music director and Shankar's orthodox music composer, A. R. Rahman was chosen, creating great expectations for the project.

Prakash Raj was almost immediately selected to play a role in the film,[12] after helping make Shankar's last project, Anniyan a success, however his role was cancelled. The role of the comedian was tipped to go Vadivelu,[13] after he received rave reviews for his comic chemistry in Chandramukhi with Rajinikanth, but however, despite the reviews, Shankar's regular comedian, Vivek was selected therefore making it his third Shankar film in succession. Other reports claimed that popular Tamil actor, Srikanth[14] was to act as Rajinikanth's son-in-law in the project but soon the story was denied. The leading lady of the film's selection took longer than it was expected. Aishwarya Rai,[15] who had been in contention to act in the last four movies of Rajinikanth, was finally expected to be selected as she had owed a favour in return to Shankar, who helped her deliver her first hit, as of Jeans. However she rejected the offer at the time citing a lack of dates and the clashing of her other films schedules, Guru, Provoked, Umrao Jaan and Dhoom 2. Another Bollywood actress, Ayesha Takia,[16] was also considered and approved by Rajinikanth, only to reject the film claiming she had problems with the Tamil language. Soon, another Bollywood actress, was approached for the film, Rani Mukherjee[17] but Shankar decided to reject her as she had asked for a huge amount of money for her salary. Other famous actresses such as Jyothika Saravanan,[18] who had acted as the female antagonist in Chandramukhi, Trisha Krishnan,[19][20] Nayanthara[21] and Sneha[22] were considered but then rejected for the role of the heroine. In late 2005, Shankar and Rajinikanth announced officially that Shriya Saran had been selected to essay the role as Rajinikanth's love interest.[23][24]

Shriya Saran was relatively new to Tamil cinema when she was selected for the role. Despite acting in over a dozen films in the Telugu language opposite big names such as Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu, Venkatesh and Akkineni Nagarjuna, she had only acted in two Tamil language films which were Ennaku 20 Unnaku 18, in which she played a supporting role and Mazhai opposite Jayam Ravi. Surprisingly, several television artistes were given other roles in the film. Shankar and his crew opted for Manivannan,[25] M. S. Baskar, Livingston,[26] Vadivukarasi,[27] Pyramid Natarajan,[28] Uma Padmanabhan, Pattimanram Raja,[29] Vannakam Thamizhuzhagam Revathi,[30] Solomon Pappayya,[31] Muthukaalai, [32] Nellai Siva,[33] Bose Venkat[34] and M'Sia Prabhu to play roles. In February 2006, Kumudam magazine came out with a cast list, which included mimicry artists, Cochin Haneefa, Chinni Jayanth and Mayilswamy as well as a list of guest appearances by crew members, Kannal Kannan, K. V. Anand,[35] Thotta Tharani[36] and Shankar.[37] However, the role of the antagonist also took a while to confirm with Sathyaraj,[38] Mohanlal,[39] Sanjay Dutt[40] and Nana Patekar[41] being asked only to reject the offer citing a variety of causes. Finally news appeared that yesteryear actor, Suman,[42][43] who had appeared with Rajinikanth as his brother in the 1980s film, Thee had been chosen.

Another key role of a lawyer played by a guest actor was originally given to Mohanlal, who opted out of the role soon. The offer was then given to Amitabh Bachchan,[44] who demanded the shooting to be held within two days in Mumbai, so that he could avoid clashes of dates.[45] However, the unit couldn't respond to Bachchan's request and his role was cancelled, to be replaced by Raghuvaran,[46] who had also played key roles in other Rajinikanth starrers. Another guest role was supposed to feature an actress in the form of an item number for the song, Balleilakka, a range of heroines were considered for the role including Sadha,[47] Shilpa Shetty, Manisha Koirala, Bipasha Basu,[48] Asin Thottumkal[49] and Nayanthara,[50] however early reports claimed that Mallika Sherawat had already bagged the role and completed shooting,[51] but in September 2006, Shankar said the song was yet to be finished, with Asin Thottumkal and Nayanthara in contention for the role. Due to unknown reasons, Asin Thottumkal dropped out of contention and Nayanthara paired with Rajinikanth for the second successive time after their pairing in Chandramukhi.[52]

Production

[edit]

Despite several setbacks during the announcement of the casts, the film began at the AVM Studios situated in Chennai, India on 28 November, 2005.[53] The movie's launch, was a surprise event, with only key members of the cast and crew being called for attendance for the event. The lead pair, Rajinikanth and Shriya Saran, a couple of supporting actors, Vivek and Prakash Raj, and members of the crew, Sujatha, Shankar, Prabhu Deva and Vairamuthu were invited by the producers, M. Saravanan and M. S. Guhan.[54] Setting high standards against possible piracy, Shankar announced that all the cast member's mobile phones would be confiscated during the shoots and only a handful of public viewers will be allowed at the shootings.[55] The movie began aiming for a release during Diwali 2006.[56].

File:Sivajimusicshop.jpg
Shriya, Rajni and Vivek in a set at Ramoji Film City

Official shooting began at the Ramoji Film City sets in Hyderabad,[57] where the opening scenes were filmed picturizing Rajinikanth and Vivek at Shriya Saran's music store. Surprisingly, these images became the first publicized stills of the movie and were released to all major film websites.[58] News soon broke out that Pattimandram Raja would play the role of Shriya's father and Uma Padmanabhan would play the role of her mother.[59] Other early reports claimed that Rajinikanth would be playing seven roles in the project, to clash with Kamal Haasan's Dasavatharam, which was being shot simultaneously.[60] However since, the rumour has faded out. The film's dates for shooting at the Ramoji Film City were extended by two weeks, delaying Arjun Sarja's film, Vathiyar from having its booked shoot. This adjustment was taken out in order to film crucial climax scenes involving Rajinikanth and Prakash Raj and also to film a song lyrcised by Vairamuthu and choreographed by Prabhu Deva with over five hundred extras. Soon rumours arose that Vathiyar was a lift of Sivaji's story and police interrogations were held however, Vathiyar escaped unscathed.[61] In February 2006, the Sivaji team headed out to Bilbao, Spain to picturize the song titled, Style. However Prabhu Deva, the choreographer could not make the journey as he was busy directing in his directorial debut venture, Pokkiri. Replacing Prabhu Deva, was his brother, Raju Sundaram, who unlike Deva stopped directing his film, Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram, and joined the crew only to be later sacked by the other film's producers.[62]

File:Sivajispianshoot.jpg
Rajinikanth and Shriya Saran during the schedule in Bilbao, Spain picturizing the song entitled, Style

The location in Bilbao was chosen, to avoid major crowd hype and recordings which would have been vulnerable to the Indian public . However disaster struck and vast crowds surrounded the shoots. Within days several photographs and videos were placed and sold over the internet and to magazines, unveiling copyrighted material. However these images of the cast, received a negative view from various media sources in Chennai as they made the song picturization seem rather silly. Eventually some of these scenes were removed from the film during its latter post-production works. To avoid further mishap, director Shankar passed a new rule that any member of the cast was not to talk about the film to any outside sources, with Manivannan being the first actor to escape from the media's questions without revealing any key news. Shankar also held a policy that either of the lead pair should not begin to act in another project as soon as they had signed a film with him. Despite all his previous heroines, Madhubala, Nagma, Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar, Aishwarya Rai, Genelia D'Souza and Sadha following these rules, Rajinikanth personally asked Shankar to allow Shriya Saran to act with his son-in-law, Dhanush, whose career was at an all-time low, in his new film, Thiruvilayadal Arambam.[63] While simultaneously shooting in the two projects, Shriya famously but cheekily commented to the media that she was, romancing with the father-in-law in the mornings and romancing with the son-in-law in the evenings.[64] However despite Shankar allowing her to act opposite Dhanush he refused to let Shriya Saran act opposite other major actors such as Kamal Haasan in Dasavatharam[65] and Vijay in Pokkiri.[66]

In August 2006, shooting took place in Binny Mills, in the outskirts of Chennai, attracting several visitors waiting outside the gates, due to Shankar's rules, he would only invite a couple of spectators to view per session, however due to a lack of security over three hundred civilians made their way into Binny Mills causing disruptions, spectator viewings were banned in Binny Mills till the shoot of the schedule there was over.[67] At Binny Mills, key fight sequences and a song was filmed, the sets were made to look like Venice in Italy.[68] However, Kannal Kannan left the project controversially citing differences with the director, he was eventually replaced by Peter Hein, a former member of Kannan's fight troupe.[69] In September 2006, Shankar announced that an actor would play a guest role as a lawyer in the film and Amitabh Bachchan was appraoched for the role. However Bachchan due to health reasons and schedule clashes refused to fly down to the AVM Studios in Chennai to the scenes. He requested that he could do the shooting in either Mumbai or Pune, which were closer to his home, and act in the film within two days. Despite reports that the shoots went ahead, other reports claimed that Raghuvaran replaced the role Amitabh Bachchan was set to play and completed the shooting.[70]

File:Sivajibald.jpg
A tonsured Rajni, shoots the climax in Pune

In October 2006, the crew moved to Pune to finish off key scenes.[71] In Pune while the climax was being shot, Rajinikanth was spotted with a tonsured head sparking excitement. The Sivaji team then flew off to the United States of America, where they were awarded with special police protection to avoid piracy. Scenes which appear at the beginning of the film and a theme song was shot.[72]It later appeared that another song sequence was set to be held in Japan, as Rajinikanth had a huge fan following there, but the idea eventually did not happen.[73] Various stages of filming carried on throughout the end of the year. In January, 2007, Sify.com interviewed Shriya Saran, who revealed her role was called Tamizh and she appeared in punjabis and traditional Indian clothing throughout the film.[74] During the post-production, the dubbing of voices took place and as Shriya Saran was not a natural Tamil speaker, a dubbing artiste was to be selected. Shankar first zeroed in on Sandhya,[75] another popular actress who was introduced under Shankar's production to dub for the lead female role however she was soon replaced by another actress, Kanika Subramaniam, who at the time was offer-less. A popular film distributor, Subbu Arunachalam dubbed for Suman's character.[76] Recently as of March 2007, sources revealed that Rajinikanth for a song sequences dressed up as the thespians of Tamil cinema, M. G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan, while for the simultaneous Telugu language dubbed version he dressed up as Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao and Chiranjeevi.[77]

Publicity and Release

[edit]

The film began its maiden schedule in late December 2005[78] after announcing its cast, hoping for a Diwali 2006 release.[79] Shortly after the initial announcement of the idea of a collaboration between Shankar and Rajinikanth in July 2006, the other legendary star of Tamil cinema, Kamal Haasan immediately announced that he was also set to began his magnum opus project soon in which he played in ten different roles, Dasavatharam, directed by K. S. Ravikumar.[80] The films announced their preliminary release dates upon Diwali 2006 and a major box-office battle was expected between those and some other high profile films such as the Vikram-Trisha starrer -Bheema,[81] the Vijay-Asin starrer Pokkiri[82] as well as the Silambarasan-Nayanthara starer Vallavan.[83] A huge battle at the box-office was anticipated. However the Rajinikanth-Shankar combination has raised great expectations of the film. Because of this, nearly 15 films are ready for release but have not been for fear of being demolished. Pirappu, Satham Podaathey, Oru Ponnu Oru Paiyan, Kaanal Neer, Unnale Unnale, Ninaithu Ninaithu Paarthein , Solli Adippen, Chennai 600028 , Thoovaanam , Kannum Kannum and Koodal Nagar are films which were delayed by the expectations.[84] From early days, the film had been expected to rewrite records set by the previous Rajinikanth starrer Chandramukhi as it saw the combinations of all the biggest stars in Tamil cinema.[85] The production house AVM, owned by M. Saravanan and M. S. Guhan was the largest, oldest and most successful to date production house in Chennai.[86] Shankar, the director, had delivered eight back-to back hits and had worked with all the major technicians in the industry.[87] The music director, A. R. Rahman was the biggest figure in India's music industry and had recently claimed international honours with his work in The Lord of the Rings Musical.[88] While as, Rajinikanth was undoubtedly Tamil cinema’s most prominent figure, earning him the prestigious title of Superstar. After the announcement several infamous brands including, Coke, Hutch, Aircel and Reliance joined as brand sponsors to the project.[89]

Early rumours claimed that Rajinikanth was set to portray seven roles in Sivaji to contest Kamal Haasan's Dasavatharam.[90] Other rumours called that as Dasavatharam had planned to have ten female leads opposite Kamal Haasan that Sivaji will have more than one heroine and an early list started listing up names which included, Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukherjee and Shriya Saran. AVM passed a rule that no technicians involved in Sivaji should be involved in Dasavatharam. This forced A. R. Rahman[91] and Shriya Saran[92] out of their respective roles in Dasavatharam. However soon, Dasavatharam was shelved temporarily to let Kamal Haasan finish off his other project, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu and K. S. Ravikumar finish off his, Varalaru, prompting a delay of the release dates by six months to April 14, the Tamil New Year.[93] However Shankar wanted the release date to clash with Dasavatharam so he also postponed the release date to April 14, becoming he first ever AVM produced film which took longer than expected.[94] But once again, Dasavatharam delayed their release date by four months due to some unfinished schedules. Sivaji advanced their release dates by two days to April 12, so that Sivaji could get a grander opening than the rest of the April 14 releases.[95]

File:Sivaji release PVR-Bangalore.JPG
Crowds thronging PVR Cinemas, Bangalore on the release date.

Sivaji's chances at the box-office were set to be hampered by the ICC Cricket World Cup and its usual overshadow of Indian civilians. However thanks to the Indian cricket team early demisal from the tournament, chances were played up again. However more recently, the film had been yet again delayed to May 8[96] to furnish and clear up post-production works but it pushed back the date by nine days to May 17[97] coinciding with director Shankar's birthday, however this release date was postponed due to the lack of speed in the post-production works. The date was pushed to May 26[98] and then to recently to May 31 for release.[99] The delay continued, when A. R. Rahman, claimed he was disappointed of his background score and planned to re-do it, delaying the release further more by two weeks to June 15, 2007.[100]

The film's distribution rights, as distributed by AVM Productions to various companies are - 3.5 crores for the selling of rights to Kerala, 14 crores for Andhra Pradesh and 13.95 crores for the rights to Ayngaran, an international Tamil film distributor. Sivaji was classified as an Universal film by the Censors Association, only cutting three scenes - a double meaning dialogue by Vivek and two scenes of close up views of Shriya Saran's naval and cleavage.[101] A pre-teaser trailer was released by CNN-IBN on May 30, 2007 lasting for three minutes.[102] The official trailer was released by AVM to Galatta.com, the official online sponsor and Ayngaran International.[103].

Soundtrack

[edit]
Further information: Sivaji: The Boss (soundtrack)
Sivaji: The Boss
File:Siivajicoverin.gif
Studio album by
A.R. Rahman
ReleasedApril 2, 2007
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length36:10
LabelAVM Music
ProducerA.R. Rahman
A.R. Rahman chronology
Provoked
(2007) 		Sivaji: The Boss
(2007) 		London Dreams
(2007)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Yahoo! India Movie Reviews[citation needed][104]


Despite being critically acclaimed for his work in Anniyan, Harris Jayaraj was not selected for Sivaji. AVM Productions and Rajinikanth demanded that India's top music director should be involved in the project and A. R. Rahman was signed up as the music director. A. R. Rahman was paid two Indian Crores (₹2 crore (US$240,000)) for the project, making him the highest paid Indian music director.[105] A.R. Rahman re-recorded the background music in London.[106][107] The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and some choral singers have rendered out moments in a background track.

Unofficial Versions

[edit]

Sivaji became a major anticipated project several rumours arose regarding the soundtrack. Vairamuthu confirmed early on that he had written a song called, Vaa..ji Vaa..ji Sivaji. No other major details about any other song was mentioned. Rumours went around that certain singers had sung in the project, including Rajinikanth. However on October 11, 2006, the source, Behindwoods.com, mentioned that they had received credible information that Sivaji contained seven songs, five of which were set to be in the audio, with the other two being situational songs. Surprisingly, they also mentioned the five songs which were in the album. Vaa...ji Vaa...ji Sivaji[108] was mentioned to be the opening song of the film. They also reported that a philosophical song titled, Unpeyar Ennada[109] was in the film. Another song titled, Jee Boom Ba[110] was mentioned as its picturization was to be filmed in either foreign locations or in Karnataka featuring the lead pair. A song called, Talla Dimi Takka Dimi Pucha..[111] was supposed to contain Japanese lyrics and was set to be filmed in Japan. However, the Sivaji crew did not travel to Japan during the shoot. The final song mentioned was, Adaal Udan Pesadha Di... En Salangaiku Bhadil Solladi..[112] and it was mentioned as a remix from another film titled Vanjikottai Valiban, Behindwoods.com claimed that this song would occur in the climax sequences of the film. However none of these songs barring Vaa..ji Vaa..ji Sivaji. were in the actual soundtrack[113] On March 22, 2007 a huge dilemma occurred over the illegal release of three preliminary tracks on the internet.[114] The songs Vaa..ji Vaa..ji En Jeevan Nee Sivaji, sung by Hariharan and Madhushree[115] Sahana Saaral Thoovudho sung by Udit Narayan and Sujatha[116] and finally a song titled, Oru Koodai Sunlight rendered by Tanvi, Shaggy and Blaaze were available on the internet.[117] However despite the uproar caused, they were dismissed as scratchings for the picturization. Later the tracks were offiically released with Chinmayi instead of Sujatha, in Sahana and Suresh Peters added to the group of singers in Style (Oru Koodai Sunlight).[118]

Official Version

[edit]
File:Sivaji-05.jpg
Rajinikanth and Shriya Saran as pictured in the song, Style

The official audio of Sivaji released in India and overseas on 2nd April, 2007.[119] Unlike, other major films, no pooja was held for the event and the soundtrack were released to the shops straight away. The audio cassette cover had an image of four Rajinikanth's on its cover while the CD version of the soundtrack had an image of the lead pair on its cover.[120] The first song in the album, is Balleilakka, which supposedly will feature Rajinikanth dancing with Nayanthara, who is making a guest appearance in the film. It is set to picturize him dancing and singing while returning to Tamil Nadu from the United States of America, with the backdrop of paddy fields. Over four hundred dancing extras will be used in the song including Pulikali artistes from Kerala. The songs lyrics were penned by poet, Na. Muthukumar and the song was sung by, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, who like he did in Amarkalam has sung without stopping for nearly two minutes. The other singers are, Rahman's elder sister, Reihana and Telugu language singer Benny.[121]

The second song in the abum, is entitled, Style which is sung by Rags, Tanvi, Blaaze and Suresh Peters. The song was previously titled, Oru Koodai Sunlight and was picturized in Bilbao, Spain. The song praises Rajinikanth's style and hero qualities.[121] The lyrics were penned by poet, Pa. Vijay. The third song is Vaa..ji Vaa..ji Sivaji, which was picturized at Hyderabad's Ramoji Film City, with sets at a cost of three Indian Crores. Reports claim the song picturizes Rajinikanth in knee-length warrior clothing as the King of Egypt and Shriya Saran as Queen. The song penned by Vairamuthu, has renowned singers, Hariharan and Madhushree singing.[121]

The fourth song in the album is Athiradee and is sung by A. R. Rahman and Sayonara with lyrics written from poet, Vaali.[121] The fifth and sixth songs of the album are titled, Sahana and Sahara - one being a peppy rendition and the other being a soulful rendition of the same number. Singing the peppy rendition is Hindi language singer, Udit Narayan with Chinmayi while the soulful rendition singers are Vijay Yesudas with Gomathishree, both songs have the lyrics written by poet, Vairamuthu, who was praised by Rajinikanth personally for his effort.[121] The final song in the album, is a situational theme song entitled, The Boss sung by Naresh Iyer, Blaaze and Raqueeb Alam, with lyrics from Na. Muthukumar and Blaaze.[121]

Audio Track

[edit]
No. Song Singers Picturization Length (m:ss) Lyrics Notes
1 Balleilakka S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Reihana, Benny In paddy fields near Pune, India with Nayanthara making a guest appearance. Over 300 extras were used in the song. 6.08 Na. Muthukumar Features guest appearances from members of the technical crew including the director, Shankar and the cinematographer, Anand
2 Style Blaaze, Tanvi, Rags, Suresh Peters Taken in Bilbao, Spain with several local dancing troupes. 5.13 Pa. Vijay Previously titled, Oru Koodai Sunlight. Another version was recorded without Suresh Peters
3 Vaaji Vaaji Hariharan, Madhushree Picturized in sets in Chennai, portraying the lead actors. 5.49 Vairamuthu
4 Athiradee A. R. Rahman, Sayonara Picturized at Binny Mills, with Sivaji fighting several villains rescuing Tamizhselvi 5.47 Vaali
5 Sahana Udit Narayan, Chinmayi 5.21 Vairamuthu Another version was recorded with Sujatha in place of Chinmayi
6 The Boss Naresh Iyer, Blaaze, Raqueeb Alam Background/Situational Music 3.20 Na. Muthukumar, Blaaze Used as the trailer's music
7 Sahara Vijay Yesudas, Gomathishree Background/Situational Music 4.32 Vairamuthu Background track

Soundtrack Success

[edit]

The audio of Sivaji, which opened up on April 2, 2007 saw the biggest response to an audio track since the Rajiv Menon multistarrer, Kandukondain Kandukondain, which also had music by A. R. Rahman.[122] There was a pre-order of about 105,000 CDs and 90,000 cassettes, before the release in Tamil Nadu, India. Repeat orders were received even by the close of the first day and many retail outlets reported stock outs.[122] By the end of April 2, the total CD sales has notched up to about 140,000 and cassettes have touched 108,000 sales. On April 2, 2007 80,000 CDs were sold and there was a request of a further 100,000 to meet the demand of the customers.[123] On the overseas front, the sales of CDs in Malaysia and Singapore reportedly set new records for Tamil films in terms of the amount of tracks sold.[122] The Telugu version of the soundtrack has become the most popular album within a fortnight of its release. [124]

Within the first three days of the release of the Sivaji audio over 150,000 phone treats (ringtones, truetones and wallpapers) had been downloaded.[125] Over Rs. 5,000,000 ($117,000) has been made from this.[125] On the ring tone department, 200, 000 ring tones have been downloaded as of April 12, 2007. The popularity rating for ring tones of Sivaji songs are – Athiradee tops the list, followed by Vaaji Vaaji and Style finishing a close third.[122]

According to a source at the AVM Productions, its audio distribution wing had supplied nearly five lakhs audio CDs and cassettes all over South India with an amazing response in Mumbai as well. More than 38,000 CDs were sold in Kerala alone. It is for the very first time that an audio in a different language has sold in the state in such a huge number. Incidentally, there were reports of long queues outside shops waiting to purchase the audio of Sivaji.[126]

Reception

[edit]

Box Office

[edit]

Sivaji opened at 9th place at the UK box office, beating Pokkiri 's record, 21st, for the highest placed Tamil language film. [127][128] The film has so far made £168,603 (Rs. 1.36 Crores) up to June 18, 2007.[129]


References

[edit]
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