Kochadaiiyaan

This article is about the 2014 Indian film. For the 8th century Indian emperor, see Kochadaiyan Ranadhiran.

Kochadaiiyaan
The title character stands on one leg
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySoundarya Rajinikanth
Written byK.S. Ravikumar
Produced by
StarringRajinikanth
Deepika Padukone
Shobana
Narrated byA. R. Rahman (Tamil)
Amitabh Bachchan (Hindi)
Dasari Narayana Rao (Telugu)[1]
CinematographyPadmesh
Edited byAnthony[2]
Music byA. R. Rahman
Production
companies
Distributed byEros International
Release date
  • 23 May 2014 (2014-05-23)
Running time
124 minutes[3]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹125 crore[4]
Box officeest. ₹42 crore[4]

Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend (transl. "King with mane" in Tamil)[5] is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language period action film[6] written by K. S. Ravikumar and directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth. It is India's first photorealistic motion capture film, featuring characters whose designs were based on the appearance and likeness of their respective actors. The film stars Rajinikanth with Deepika Padukone (in her Tamil debut) and Shobana in the lead, Meanwhile R. Sarathkumar, Aadhi Pinisetty, Jackie Shroff, Nassar and Rukmini Vijayakumar had also voiced their respective characters. The narrative follows the quest of an 8th-century warrior who seeks revenge after witnessing the unlawful punishment administered to his father, a good-hearted warrior in his kingdom, by the jealous ruler.

The film was the result of a complex development process, starting with the director's idea of directing and co-producing Sultan: The Warrior with Eros International in 2007, which was to feature Rajinikanth as an animated character.[7] After cancelling the project due to lack of financial support,[8] Soundarya and Eros turned their attention to producing Rana, which was to be a live-action historical fiction film directed by Ravikumar starring Rajinikanth and Padukone. However, the project was put on hold after Rajinikanth fell ill and uncertainty remained whether Rana would resume. In the meantime, producer Dr. J. Murali Manohar felt impressed by Soundarya's draft work on Sultan and persuaded her to materialise her directorial ambitions with Kochadaiiyaan, featuring a plot which leads itself up to the events of Rana, which was later deciphered as a sequel script to Kochadaiiyaan.[9] The team agreed and completed filming in two years with Centroid Motion Capture at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom using motion capture technology, after which animation work and post-production ensued in the United States, Hong Kong, and China for a year.[3][10][11][12] Music for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman and was performed by the London Session Orchestra.[13] Rahman had been working with Kevin Lima for the later shelved film Bollywood Superstar Monkey and was inspired to bring motion capture technology to Indian cinema, hence he was also at the forefront in the film's development.[14]

Kochadaiiyaan was promoted as "a tribute to the centennial of Indian cinema" and released worldwide in 3D and for traditional viewing on 23 May 2014 in Tamil and five additional languages, including Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Punjabi.[15][16] Overall, the film received a mixed critical response worldwide, wherein critics drew comparisons to other films that have used motion capture technology, notably Avatar (2009), and noted general discrepancies in the animation. Other aspects of the film, including performances, background score, and screenplay, received acclaim.[17] The film had a large opening in Tamil Nadu and across the world, while a less enthusiastic reception was seen in other parts of India. Though the film fared well[18] in Tamil, it performed poorly in other parts of India, including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.[19][20][21] The film eventually bombed at the box office leaving distributors in huge losses and producers in financial tangle.[22][23]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference emts was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Arts / Cinema : Making the cut and how!". The Hindu. 15 September 2012. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  3. ^ a b "'Kochadaiiyaan' is here!". The Hindu. 8 September 2013. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  4. ^ a b Kandavel, Sangeetha (27 December 2014). "Now, Kochadaiyaan producers in financial tangle". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Kollywood filmmakers opt for classical words for film titles". The Times of India. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  6. ^ "Kochadaiyaan". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference thandance was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Rajinikanth's 'Kochadaiiyaan' similar to his 'Sultan the Warrior'? Archived 21 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine. The Times of India. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  9. ^ "Rajinikanth's 'Kochadaiiyaan' Sequel on Cards". IBTimes. 6 June 2014. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014.
  10. ^ "Rajini's 'Kochadaiyaan' will release in July". The Times of India. 3 March 2013. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  11. ^ "'Kochadaiyaan' post-production in 3 countries". Indiaglitz. 5 June 2012. Archived from the original on 6 June 2012.
  12. ^ Rajinikanth's magnum opus Kochadaiiyaan coming to screens on May 23 – Official press release Archived 23 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Twitter.com (7 May 2014). Retrieved on 11 May 2015.
  13. ^ "The London Session Orchestra". Discogs. 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 3 March 2014.
  14. ^ "Why was AR Rahman hesitant to compose music for 'Kochadaiiyaan'?". IBNLive. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  15. ^ "Official: Rajinikanth's Kochadaiiyaan (Kochadaiyaan) To Release On May 9". Oneindia. 10 April 2014. Archived from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  16. ^ "Rajnikanth, Deepika starrer 'Kochadaiiyaan' to release in seven languages". The Times of India. 25 February 2014. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014.
  17. ^ "'Kochadaiiyaan' Box Office Collection: Rajinikanth-Deepika Starrer Rocks on Opening Day". International Business Times. 26 May 2014. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference theatre was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ "Internationalbussinesstimes: 'Kochadaiiyaan' Box Office Collection (Opening Weekend): Rajinikanth Starrer Grosses ₹42 Crore Worldwide". International Business Times. 26 May 2014. Archived from the original on 28 May 2014.
  20. ^ "NDTV: Rajinikanth's Kochadaiiyaan Heading for Disaster?". 26 May 2014. Archived from the original on 30 May 2014.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference DC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Kandavel, Sangeetha (27 December 2014). "Now Kochadaiyaan producers in financial tangle". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  23. ^ "After two successive flops is the Rajini effect weakening". The Hindu. 19 February 2018. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018.