Revisiting Thalapathi

Natpunaa Ennanu Theriyuma? Nanbanaa Ennanu Theriyuma? Suriyana Ennanu Theriyuma?’— these are some lines that have stood the test of time, and  been serving as a reminder of the cult classic film — Thalapathi. One can safely say that a large portion of Tamil cinema that took birth after Thalapathi drew many references from this film. As the movie, that was released on November 25, 1991, celebrates its silver jubilee this year, a Chennai-based group is going all out to reminisce the magic that the legends Rajinikanth, Mani Ratnam, Ilayaraja and Mammootty brought to life on screen.

The city’s movie merchandise space — Fully Filmy — has taken on the task to explore how the film went ahead to become such an important element of Tamil popular culture, by reaching out to all the cast and crew who created this classic. With the documentary’s teaser releasing, Twitter has been abuzz with the hashtag #25YearsOfIconicThalapathi trending. Raunaq Mangottil, the co-founder of Fully Filmy, elaborates on this Herculean task they’ve taken on to get in touch with the crew of this 25-year-old movie.

“A lot of us have many childhood memories attached to this film. As a kid, I remember how I would eat only if the song Adi Rakamma Kaiya Thattu would be played for me. Everyone knows about the legacy that this film has created, but there are a lot of facts which not many know about — on why Rajinikanth took up the film, what kind of experiences the actors had on the sets and so on. As a landmark film, it redefined Tamil cinema, and we’re trying to explore how the film was made,” Raunaq says about documentary.

When we ask how they arrived at the idea of making a documentary, he replies saying it was one of the conversations that he had with an ardent Superstar lover Amar Nath. “He is one of Rajini’s biggest fans and knows each and every detail about his films like the back of his hand. During one of my conversations with him, he had the idea to do something unique to mark the 25th year of the movie’s release.”

Elaborates Raunaq, “For around two months, we did our research and got in touch with the cast and crew of Thalapathi. We were completely overwhelmed by the kind of things the interviews were unveiling. We have spoken to the art director Thota Tharani, will be speaking to Santosh Sivan, and have approached the Thalaivar as well. It’d be a dream come true to have him on board for this documentary!”

The 30-minute long video will be highlighting many unknown technical aspects of the film. Raunaq believes that although the storyline of Thalapathi is the retelling of a chapter of Mahabharata, it has been done in a way that makes the film timeless.

Amar Nath, who is also an aspiring actor, says that a documentary that was made to commemorate 25 years of the movie Shiva inspired him — “Usually, everytime a film completes 20 or 25 years after its release, it is usually re-released. A few fans watch it in the theatres for a couple of weeks and then it dies out. We wanted to get to the roots of how this film was made and document it so we can offer a true insight into it. Something like this hasn’t been done for any other Tamil classics,” he concludes.