Robot History - Part 4

Following the mega success of Billa 2007, Ajith was next in line to be considered for Robot. Although there were reliable reports that talks were continuing on this front, Shankar was tight lipped as usual. Ajith kept saying there is no official confirmation about it, which fueled the fire even more.

Shankar publicly said that Robot is not happening now and that he is going to concentrate more on producing movies for his S pictures. But the rumor mill continued to grind. There are only few actors left now that Shankar can work with. A) He can do this project with Kamal. Buoyed by the huge success of tamil movies, large corporations are investing boat loads of money into Tamil movie industry. In this changed atmosphere it may be possible to revive the movie with Kamal in the lead. But again there was the time factor. Kamal’s next movie Marmayogi has already been announced. He reportedly committed another mega-movie in hindi co-starring with Hrithik. It is nearly impossible for him to fit Robot in his schedule without upsetting his other production companies.

Then there was Super Star. He had few projects of his own. He wanted to make a movie for SP Muthuraman. He was impressed with director A.R.Murugadoss’s script, that he wanted to act in it. He wanted to work in a Maniratnam’s movie. He also promised to make a movie for Kamal’s Rajkamal International. Plus he wanted to make a movie for KB’s Kavithalaya. There were just too many people that he wanted to work with. But he just couldn’t get the right combination.

Ayngaran’s Karunmurthy came to Shankar’s rescue once again. Although Ayngaran is a reputed distribution company, they don’t produce movies directly. Ayngaran was partly owned by Eros International who along with Sony Pictures bankroll as many as 50 movies in Hindi this year. Industry buzz is that Karunamurthy arranged the meeting between Eros and Shankar. If these sources are to be believed, Shankar wanted Sony/Eros to produce the movie with Ajith in the lead. His estimate for making the movie was between 70 and 80 crores. However Sony/Eros was not willing to take the bait. They said Ajith is a little known actor outside Tamilnadu. If this project has to be viable, this movie must be made in two or three languages and also by an actor who can attract a strong crowd overseas. Eros reportedly made a counter offer, why dont you convince Rajini to do the movie, we can invest as much as 120 crores for this project, instead of 80 crores that you asked for? Shankar must have thought, this must be too good to be true.

He ran this by the Super Star. Rajini was reluctant this time mainly due to three reasons. a) Two years for a movie is too long for him. b) His last mega-movie Sivaji adversely impacted many smaller producers last time, which he did not want to repeat. c) He wanted to make a quick movie for KB’s Kavithalaya. Needless to say Shankar was more than willing to accommodate all that. He said that the two year time can be cut down by appropriate planning beforehand. As far as the smaller producers are concerned, if we can announce the release date of Robot much in advance, that would help them immensely. He convinced Rajini that all the lessons learned while making Sivaji can be applied in making Robot. He was also willing to wait until P.Vasu’s Kuselan is complete. With the last hindrance out of their way, Rajini happily agreed and signed on the dotted lines.

There you go. Thats the complete behind the scenes story of this mega-movie. We compiled this story from a variety of sources including many industry insiders and our friends in media. Let us know if you heard otherwise!