Anbulla Rajinikanth

Anbulla Rajinikanth (transl. Dear Rajinikanth) is a 1984 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Natraj in his debut. The film stars Rajinikanth as himself, Meena, and Ambika. It was released on 2 August 1984, and received positive reviews, with praise for Meena's performance and Rajinikanth's acting.

Anbulla Rajinikanth
DVD cover
Directed byK. Natraj
Produced byM. S. Akbar
Durga Tamizhmani
Written byThooyavan
StarringRajinikanth
Meena
Ambika
Music byIlaiyaraaja
CinematographyBabu
Edited byR. Vittal
Production
company
S. T. Combines
Distributed byG. V. C. Films
Release date
  • 2 August 1984 (1984-08-02)
Running time
180 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹2.3 million

Plot

Rosy, a girl with a left arm paralysed and weak cardiac health, lives at an orphanage (Karunai Illam) along with others that were dumped by their parents due to disabilities or having no parents, or for other reasons. The fact that she had been disowned by her parents for untold reasons since her birth and her disability to be like other normal children attributes to her rudeness. She even ill-treats all her caretakers in the orphanage, which leads to hatefulness towards her by almost all other orphanage workers and orphan children, except Mother Superior, who heads the orphanage and is always kind to everyone regardless of their age. Lalitha arrives at the orphanage as a babysitter. She is assigned to take care of Rosy by Mother Superior. She, unlike any other caretakers, takes care of Rosy despite her rudeness and shows extra care for her like a real mother herself, which even surprises Mother Superior as the older caretakers gave up and sidelined when it came to taking care of Rosy, owing to her arrogance.

It is informed that actor Rajinikanth would one day visit the orphanage as a guest to entertain children on a special occasion under the permission of Mother Superior, who thought it would be a good chance to bring change to everyone in the orphanage. Rajinikanth arrives, gives a speech, and distributes sweets to every child and staff kindly. But when Rajini's turn came to Rosy, she, as usual, shows anger and disregards his gifts. While this infuriates everyone around, Rajinikanth imbibes ignominy caused by Rosy's behaviour, since her being a child and still continues being calm and positive. He announces that he will freely showcase his newly released film Annai Oru Aalayam. Rosy, however, not only earned everyone's disgust for her actions, but on the inside also feels saddened that she herself did this, which even made her more grumpy.

Later that night, Rosy, as usual, stayed isolated from the film screening that was shown as promised by Rajinikanth. However, she got interested in the movie as she heard it over the window. After a glimpse of a few scenes of it from the window, she goes on to watch the whole movie, wherein the hero of it saves a baby elephant from poachers and reunites it with its mother elephant, displaying parental love, which affects Rosy in terms of sentiments that makes her want to apologize for her unkind acts. The next day, she displays a change, to everyone's awe. She apologizes to Rajinikanth through a letter, saying that this film was the reason for her to change her perspective towards her nature, which Rajinikanth swiftly agrees to and replies to her, reciprocating his kindness. Having found herself to have become a bigger fan of Rajinikanth, Rosy obsesses about her favorite superstar. Mother Superior, happy on this change of Rosy, requests to Rajinikanth herself, to which he kindly obliges.

Rajinikanth again returns one day and sets up a little drama with K. Bhagyaraj, obliging for Mother Superior's request to please the kids. There, he and Rosy bond with each other, which extends to limits where Rajinikanth takes Rosy almost everywhere, even to his shoots of new films. One day, at the orphanage with Rajnikanth, Rosy coughs up blood and faints. The doctor finds out that Rosy has a weak heart and reveals that she has just a few days left to live, shocking Lalitha and Rajinikanth. Rajinikanth vows to keep Rosy happy for the rest of her life and approaches senior doctors for help. While Ambika confronts Mother Superior in private regarding this, she reveals that she is the real mother of Rosy. She had to dump her due to unnatural reasons because of her family and loss of her husband Raju. She interrogates Mother Superior as to why she did not tell her about this. Mother Superior reveals that she was aware of this condition. Rosy has had and consulted doctors (shown earlier in the beginning) earlier than she was even able to speak as a child, only to know that the problem could not be eradicated by modern medical amenities, but only be cured by God and his grace himself.

Knowing that Rosy was reaching the end of her life, Mother Superior seeks the help of Rajnikanth so that she finds solace in him that she remains happy, let alone the fact of how long she would survive. Rosie demands Rajinikanth once to come and celebrate Christmas as Santa Claus, such that nobody realises. On Christmas Eve, Rajinikanth does as Rosy's wish, soon after which he reveals himself. Overjoyed, Rosy laughs so hard out of happiness that she once again coughs up blood and faints. Realizing that night was her last one, everyone gathers around crying, especially Rosy's friends, who started to like her ever since the change in her attitude that they were going to miss her forever. On that sad moment, she also reveals that she was aware that Lalitha was her real mother, which makes everyone go into shock. Holding her idol's hand, Rosy dies. It is later shown with Rajinikanth paying tribute to Rosy and sadly leaving the orphanage in Rosy's memory.

Cast

Supporting roles

Production

Producer Azhagan Thamizhmani and writer Thooyavan saw a film called Touched by Love (also known as To Elvis, with Love), in 1980 which had Elvis Presley in a guest appearance at a film festival, both got emotional while watching the film, which prompted them to attempt a similar story in Tamil. Thooyavan finished writing the screenplay within a month. He wanted to cast M. G. Ramachandran as the hero, but could not do so.[4] Thooyavan narrated the story to K. Natraj who was working as one of the assistant directors in Devar Films. Natraj agreed to work on the film and Rajinikanth accepted to act in the film for free of charge. Rajinikanth initially agreed to give callsheet of 6 days then extended for 10 days since he wanted the film to come out well. The film was entirely shot in a school with 300 students. Rajkumar Sethupathi, brother of actress Latha and husband of actress Sripriya did a small role as Ambika's husband. Meena appeared as one of the main characters.[2] A scene where Rosy visits Rajinikanth's house for tea was filmed at the actual location.[5] The budget of the film was ₹2.3 million.[6]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[7]

No.SongSingersLyricsLength
1"Ilanguyile"Vani JairamVaali4:17
2"Kadavul Ullame"Latha Rajinikanth, Chorus4:17
3"Muthumani Chudare Vaa"K. J. YesudasNa. Kamarasan4:17
4"Thaaththa Thaaththa"Malaysia VasudevanKuruvikkarambai Shanmugam3:45
5"Then Poove"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. JanakiVaali4:23

Release and reception

Anbulla Rajinikanth was released on 2 August 1984.[8][9] The following day, The Hindu said, "For one making his debut as director Natraj deserves accolades for the near-to-the-heart treatment of the situations in which the performance of a six-member-group of orphans will make even elder artistes sit up" and concluded, "Babu's camera embellishes the frames".[3] The film ran for 100 days in theatres.[6]

Legacy

The film's title inspired a film titled Anbulla Ghilli.[10]

References
  1. "Anbulla Rajinikanth". The Star. Malaysia. 28 June 2015. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017.
  2. "'அன்புள்ள ரஜினிகாந்த்' படம் உருவானது எப்படி?: பட அதிபர் தமிழ்மணி வெளியிடும் தகவல்கள்" [How did 'Anbulla Rajinikanth' originate?: Film distributor Azhagan Tamilmani reveals]. Maalai Malar (in Tamil). 1 December 2012. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  3. The Hindu 2012, p. 70.
  4. Kumar, S. R. Ashok (18 October 2013). "Shotcuts: Red is ready". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  5. The Hindu 2012, p. 52.
  6. "பிளாஷ்பேக்: ரஜினி படத்தின் பட்ஜெட் ரூ.23 லட்சம்" [Flashback: Rajini's film was produced on a budget of Rs. 23 lakh]. Dinamalar (in Tamil). 26 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  7. "Anbulla Rajnikanth (1984)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  8. Sreekanth, Gayathri (2008). The Name is Rajinikanth. Om Books International. p. 368.
  9. "Rajinikanth's 10 Biggest FLOPS". Rediff. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  10. "Director Srinath Ramalingam's next is 'Anbulla Ghilli'". The Times of India. 4 April 2019. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.

Bibliography
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