She might have grown up watching Rajini films just like any other normal Tamil cinema fan, but when an opportunity came knocking to actually make a movie with him in the lead role, she immediately chose animation! “Pictures and images have always attracted me,” says Soundarya Rajinikanth, who is giving the final touches to her Sultan – The Warrior, “That’s why animation was the first choice when my dad gave me a go-ahead sign.”When she was asked to speak on her favourite topic at the Times Avenues, she was more than ready for it. “There’s a huge future for animation in India,” she says, “Apart from the creative line, there’s almost 10 times more opportunities on the technical side.”Keeping that in mind, this pretty filmmaker is planning to launch a new initiative — she calls it the School of Thoughts. “It will create a platform to people who have ideas,” she states. Prod her on this and she’s not willing to reveal more. “There’ll be an official announcement soon,” is all she’ll say.Though her film is quite big on the technical front, Sultan will have all the essential ingredients of a typical Rajinikanth film. So, there’s style too? “Of course,” she laughs, “There’s action, drama, revenge and love… it’s a commercial film. I’m a commercial person.”That’s one quality driving her to market the film aggressively. But, despite a lot of marketing, animation movies made in India haven’t really raked in a lot of moolah. How does she think will Sultan fare in that context? “Quality is the key in animation movies,” she says, “If there’s no finesse, you’ve lost your audience.”Audience is surely an important factor that Soundarya will be considering, as it’s the fans of the superstar who shape the success of the film. “I’m sure Sultan will be path-breaking and we’re working towards it,” she says, “I love to take up challenges and triumph.”So, what’s Rajinikanth as a dad? What are their dinner table conversations like? “Ah, we discuss everything under the sun. From politics to general gossip, we chat about everything!” Does he ever talk about Sultan competing with his upcoming Endhiran? “No way,” she states, “They are both different films. He thinks of them as two prestigious projects. The work to be put in them is the same.”Soundarya is very interested in the stories and anecdotes that her father narrates to explain human nature. “Appa is hugely into story-telling,” she says, “You know, he has this manner of narrating a lot of little stories. I love listening to them.”
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