Kochadaiiyaan - What the Hell is happening ???

The much awaited Kochadaiiyaan(Yes the Spelling is correct even Mr. Kaazhiyur Narayanan verified it) teaser (You should say it as TRAILER according to the sources) released and the comments were outrageous. I saw many types of comments flowing on some of the templates I remember are 1. Looks like a cartoon, 2. It’s the trailer of Sultan the Warrior, 3. Whatever the trailer we watch it for Super Star, 4. We can’t expect more from an ample budget of 19M $, don’t compare it with Avatar.

So let us begin the story with Sultan the Warrior. Sultan was started in 2007 by Ocher Studios in collaboration with Warner bros. of course we know who owns the Ocher studios and now we also know that the Ocher Studio’s name is vanished from the Kochadaiiyaan. Initial announcements are that the movie will be motion captured animation movie (no no, it’s not an animation movie but motion capture movie) much like Beowulf. The trailer of the movie released after a while and it was much more same as of Beowulf, not regarding the content but technologically sound as Beowulf(or it seemed so to a common man like me). After watching Polar Express, Toy story and so on we were so excited to see our Super Star in an animated movie(no no no, Motion Capture movie) but eventually the project shelved due to various constraints such as story, screenplay and so on disclosed as unmentionable reasons.

                                                                     Beowulf Trailer

Then years later director K.S. Ravikumar came up with Rana and then that too shelved and came the mighty Kochadaiiyaan. Now the expectations got high and even videos and photos released showcasing that Rajini wearing those suits for motion capture(sorry sorry Performance capture). This increased the expectation of the movie and even news spread that Rajini is crooning a number which may not be a song but he is singing (that is what they told). After all this hype a so called trailer was released on Eros’s official channel in YouTube and the trailer reminded so much of the Sultan trailer to Mango man like me, who unable to find the difference between cartoon and animation. We thought Pokemon is cartoon and Toy story, Avatar is animation. Then upon the release the initial reactions were those I mentioned in the first paragraph.

                                                                 Sultan the Warrior

"Animation is a word, a process. In India, people think animation is cartoon. Avatar was animation, but is not a cartoon. Tintin is completely cartoonistic. I am creating Rajinikanth, where he has actually performed, it's captured on a camera and then put into a 3D version. Avatar took seven years and so much budget and a James Cameron. There was always the insecurity of the unknown, but we have taken a road never taken in India and broken rules and have completed the film in just a year and a half."

 – Soundarya, in an interview with The Times of India

                                                               You know what it is

To my feeble knowledge of technology and from a mango man point of view the trailer resembled more of Beowulf than that of Avatar. If it is not an animation picture then what is the point of motion capture? The director kept on insisting that the movie is recreating Rajini and he has acted not just lent his voice. We know about those technologies and you are telling these to the people who have the exposure of this technology. If you tell about this is Sun tv, Dinakaran and some Tamil daily it would be useful for them to understand and also it would help you to cater B and C class audience(No offence intended). You are giving all your information and news to A class audience who knew about it already thus making an exaggerated statement of what have you done. I know it is too premature to give a verdict or statement about your strategy or technology but as you put it, I am a mango man from this society who just believes in what I see. Instead of giving we with a hype/hope of something which may not be present surprise us with something. You never have to worry about selling the film, the name Rajinikanth does it.

P.S: Rajini fans watch it no matter how it is and sure will appreciate every honest effort. Please don’t promise us with a Magnum and give us a Choco bar. 

P.S.S: Thank you Youtube and Google images for the courtesy.