The ENTHIRAN (ROBOT) News Gets Cooler

Looks like I'm going to blow my wad on the first day, but I assure you, I'm just trying to get current...

Here at ScreenAnarchy we've been following Superstar Rajnikanth's latest Tamil language outing, Enthiran (or Robot in its Hindi dubbed form) with some enthusiasm.  For me it stems from having come late to Rajni's ouevre with his last major outing, Sivaji, a blockbuster by Indian standards.  In the case of Enthiran, Kollywood (the colloquial name for the Tamil language film industry) is trying to break Rajni out of the Indian pigeonhole and onto the world's collective celebrity radar.  Not only does this film co-star former Miss World, Loreal model, and all around mega-hottie, Aishwariya Rai Bachchan; it also features a score by newly minted Oscar winner A.R. Rahman, composing for his native Tamil language; as well as stunts coordinated by...

wait for it...

Hong Kong legend, and recently announced Fantastic Fest honoree, Yuen Woo-ping!

Yes, somehow in the coverage that has so far appeared on the site, this little tidbit managed to escape us.  This is not the first crossover from Hong Kong to India, a couple of years ago, we noted that Gordon Liu was to be featured in Akshay Kumar's Chandni Chowk to China.  After that film bombed worldwide, however, Enthiran does stand a good chance of being the first successful Indian film with such high profile Chinese crew.  The trailer appeared here a couple of weeks back, and I think gives an accurate-ish impression of what to expect from this film, though a novice can never truly be prepared for South Indian cinema.

In addition to the big names attached, Sun Pictures is attempting to bolster Enthiran's chances with simultaneous world wide releases in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi language versions of the film, and according to some (hopefully correct) sources, they have produced theatrical versions of the Tamil language film with English subtitles in conjunction with HBO Films.  This is pretty irregular, but this is also the most expensive Indian film ever made, weighing in at 150 crore rupees.  I think that is a lot, feel free to convert that for me.  In any case, now that you know a little bit about this film, I think it is time that the ScreenAnarchy crowd truly got on board with Indian cinema, it truly does hit our sensibilities without feeling contrived.  The release date has been pushed back from September 3rd, and is now tentatively (you'll read that word a lot in my description of Indian films) scheduled to release on September 24th.  While you may not know it yet, if you live in a metropolitan area, you probably have a few Indian language theaters nearby.  Look them up, set aside about 3 and a half hours, buy some samosas from concessions, and prepare to have your mind blown.

For your benefit, I'm going to attach the trailer again.  Enjoy.