Robot History - Part 3

In 2005 when AVM Saravanan was briefly hospitalized, Rajini had gone to meet him in the hospital and they briefly discussed about making a movie together. This was in line with Rajini’s decision to make movies only to big banners, in order to avoid controversies. It was Rajini who suggested that Shankar as his first choice for Director. But Shankar was already in talks with Chiranjeevi and he even reportedly was paid an advance for a project from a noted Telugu producer. Although Shankar knew it could be a life time opportunity to work with AVM and super star, he was in a dilemma since he was already paid advance and he did not want to disappoint the producer.

M.S.Guhan, son of AVM Saravanan and co-producer of Sivaji stepped in. He along with Ayngaran’s Karunamurthy brainstormed a solution to this seemingly complex situation. The fact that Karunamurthy was a good friend of Shankar helped as well. They spoke to the Telugu Producer and negotiated their way out. It was agreed that Shankar and the producer will nullify the contract between them and in return, AVM will give Telugu rights to the producer. This paved the way for Sivaji.

Sivaji pooja Nov 28, 2005 - from left Shreya, Shankar, AVM Saravanan,
Rajini and M.S.Guhan.

Fast forward to 2007, a movie that was nearly two years in the making and costed over 80 crores, smashed away all the box office records and created the history.

Funnily enough, no one speculated this time that it will be Robot that Shankar will be making with Rajini. The reason was, almost immediately after the news that Rajini and Shankar making the movie was confirmed, the team announced the Sivaji as the name of the new movie.

Breaking the trend and setting new records were not new for Rajini and Shankar. But even for them, the stupendous success of Sivaji is a new high. Despite the media reports that for some distributors, this movie was a big loss, Sivaji made a lasting effect across the industry which was even felt in other parts of India.

Shankar went into hiding as he always does after completing the movie. When he came back he was ready to revive Robot. This time it is for real! It is worth noting that when he first decided to make Nayak in Hindi, the producers’ first choice was Shahrukh. However Shankar at that time felt that a Shahrukh with a super star status may not make justification to that role. He wanted to show how a common man rose up to be a Chief Minister for ‘one day’. Shahrukh and Shankar did hit off quite well and they decided to make a movie together in future. This time when Shankar relayed the Robot story to Sharukh, he was impressed. Science-fiction stories have already become huge hits in Hindi. Sharukh was actually looking for a vehicle to launch his own Sci-fi thriller. SRK fresh from his huge hit Om Shanti Om and Shankar after blockbuster Sivaji, it was a perfect marriage. Or so it seemed.

Sharukh and Shankar met few times in Hyderabad and Bangalore to discuss the screenplay. However the chemistry was missing between them. There were few reasons why this project fizzeld out even in the initial stages.

a) SRK wanted Manikandan to handle the camera. Shankar did not like the idea because Manikandan had walked out of one of his earlier films.
b) SRK suggested few changes. The story has a Scientist and a Robot, both are instrumental to the entire screenplay. Shahrukh wanted to play both roles himself. An idea which Shankar wasnt quite enthused about.
c) Shahrukh was going to produce the movie. The remuneration that Shankar quoted for his story, screenplay and direction of the movie was an exorbitant amount, according to Shahrukh. He thought the money was on the higher side, especially considering Shankar’s prior movie in Hindi (Nayak) was a huge flop.
d) Shahrukh privately said that the script was ‘half-baked’ and ‘dull’ and did not suit his image.

Either all of them are true or some of them are true or none of them is true. The official reason given was “creative differences” between Shankar and Shahrukh whatever it means! Thus the movie with Shahrukh was a non-starter.

Shankar was back at the drawing board all over again. According to some media reports, Aamir Khan was offered the role, which he denied later, saying that there was never any talks in that direction. Hrithik Roshan was Shankar’s next choice. Hrithik has done super hero movies and sci-fi thrillers in the recent past and they have all become blockbuster hits. He seemed like a perfect fit now. There was one catch though. Hrithik has signed up several movies and he is pretty busy for the next few years. There is no way he will be able to dedicate 2 years for Robot.

Continued…