After impressing everyone in Jailer, Rajinikanth returns to the silver screen in his daughter Aishwarya’s Tamil sports drama Lal Salaam, which releases today.
The filmmakers released an intriguing trailer on Monday, which gave a glimpse of how actor Vishnu Vishal, who plays the protagonist and a Muslim, redeems himself from a troubled past after a Hindu priest predicts that he will bring a good name to his village through cricket.
Rajinikanth, 73, appears in an extended cameo as Moideen Bhai, a father who aims to promote communal harmony. The trailer also showed a glimpse of legendary cricketer Kapil Dev.
The film demonstrates how politics plays a role in the life of two individuals and their families in a rural Tamil Nadu town after they decide to focus on their sports careers.
Netizens shared their excitement after watching the trailer.
One said: “Ranjini sir and Vishnu Vishal, superb combo. Waiting for the film.”
Another wrote: “Expecting a message-oriented movie instead of a commercial one, but Thalaivar entry with A.R. Rahman is pure goosebumps moment.”
Rahman, who has composed the music for the film, revealed that he initially felt the film would be “boring”, reported The Indian Express.
He said: “When Aishwarya told me the film’s story, I thought it would be preachy. But once I saw the film, my views changed.
“The scenes I thought would be cringy were handled completely differently. I asked her who wrote the dialogues for the film, and she said – I wrote and appa (father) changed them a bit.
“I realised it was Rajinikanth’s wisdom. He respects everything and researched well for the film.”
Rahman, however, received criticism for using artificial intelligence (AI) to recreate the voices of late singers Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed’s for the song Thimiri Yezhuda. Some fans dubbed the move as “disrespectful” and “morally unethical”.
But Rahman told the BBC that the deceased singers’ families had agreed to it, stating, “We pay them (their families). In a way, I felt my conscience is clear. They were surprised. I think there’s a legit way to do that; any technology should benefit humanity, you know, not take away livelihoods.”
Lal Salaam marks Aishwarya’s comeback to feature film direction after an eight-year hiatus since Vai Raja Vai.
The film’s launch took place at a private college in Chennai on Jan 26, when Aishwarya revealed that it was initially difficult to undertake the project as there weren’t many producers who wanted to bankroll it.
She also said she did not consider asking her father to be a part of the project at first.
“When my father read the script, he asked me if he could do Moideen Bhai’s role,” she said. “I never thought about him for the role until he suggested it.”
The film’s other actors include Vikranth, Senthil, Jeevitha, Thambi Ramaiah, Ananthika Sanilkumar, Vivek Prasanna and Thangadurai.
Lal Salaam will be released in theatres in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada.
Indo-Asian News Service
