'Robot': 'Endhiran' - Behind the camera

Initially named Robot in Tamil and later changed to Endhiran due to the entertainment tax exemption on Tamil films that have Tamil titles, this Rajnikanth-starrer would have just been a dream of director Shankar, if the Southern super star had never taken the project to Sun Pictures Boss Kalanadhi Maran and convinced him to back it. The project that was initially backed by Ayngran International and Eros International, however was shelved when the world plunged into the financial slowdown.

This film with a budget of USD million (Rs. 1650 million ) has the best names in the industry contributing to each department. The film’s music has been created by Oscar winner AR Rahman, audiography is by another Oscar winner, Resul Pookutty and the lyrics are by the renowned Viaramuthu. The director of photography is Rathnavel, editing has been done by Anthony, the art direction is by Sabu Cyril and Srinivas Mohan was in charge of the visual FX along with Stanwinston Studios in California.

This is the first Indian film to use the Stanswinston Studio's animatronics technology that was earlier used in films like Jurassic Park, Iron Man, and the Terminator Series. The films have been shot in many locales including Machu Picchu the pre-Colombian Inca site in Peru along with Pune, Lonavla and Chennai, and majorly in the studios with the help of CGi.

This visual spectacle is said to be loosely based on late novelist Sujatha’s work En Iniya Iyanthira and Meendum Jeano. The film has been in the news since its commencement in 2007. Each day, the media was updated of the events around the film, to maintain the hype around it. In the three years of making of the film, various rumours have done its rounds including that of the opening scene where Rajnikanth does a full monty, a shot canned at a Chennai studio.

The music has already topped the charts and Rahaman’s daughter Kathija too has contributed to the project by lending her voice to the popular Pudhya Manida, singing along with SP Balasubramanian. Lyricist Vairamuthu also has introduced his son and lyricist Kaarki with the Boom Boom Roba Da number. The music of this film is on the paid applications in Apple’s iTunes and remains a hot favorite. The music rights were picked up by Think Music for a mind boggling price.

The monetary benefits of Endhiran have already started coming in, including advertisement revenue from the telecast of events such as the audio release and the theatre trailers released on the Sun Network channels. The tickets for the film marked record advance booking for the first few weeks, ensuring a bonus for all distributors who picked up the rights at astronomical prices, which is estimated to be five times the price paid for Shankar's earlier blockbuster Shivaji… the boss. Sun Pictures has planned to release over 2000 prints.

News on the film has been published as never before, with even national news channels adding snippets on Endhiran as part of regular news. Also, Shankar has confirmed in an interview that Chitti, the robot in the film, would be flown down from StanWinston Studios for promotions. It looks like the producers are leaving no stone unturned till the release of this film on Friday.