30 years of Annamalai: Some of the facts about the Rajinikanth-starrer, directed by Suresh Krissna

Annamalai, featuring Rajinikanth in the lead, was directed by Suresh Krissna.

Rajinikanth in Annamalai/Twitter

As the Suresh Krissna directorial, Annamalai, completes 30 years, let's take a look at some of the interesting facts about the Rajinikanth-starrer.

• Annamalai was a remake of the 1987 Jeetendra film, Khudgarz, which was based on Jeffrey Archer's novel, Kane and Abel.
• Annamalai marked Deva's first collaboration with Rajinikanth. K Balachander chose Deva to compose the music, as he had a misunderstanding with Ilaiyaraaja, his usual collaborator.
• Annamalai was supposed to be directed by Vasanth, but he opted out, owing to unknown reasons. Later, the film went to Suresh Krissna, who also had written the screenplay.
• Annamalai was the first film to feature the introductory Superstar title card, where the words form in blue dots on the screen.
• The tune of the famous Vanthenda Paalkaran is based on the Marathi folk song, Mee Dolkar Daryacha Raja.
• Annamalai was remade into Telugu in 1993 as Kondapalli Raja, and into Kannada in 2003 as Gokarna.

• Annamalai ran for 175 days in theatres and turned out to be the highest-grossing film. Eventually, the record was broken by Baasha.
• Actor Shanmugasundaram of Karagattakaran-fame had written dialogues for this film, which was shot for 45 days.
• A few reports suggest that Visu was to direct Annamalai before Vasanth was approached for the same. However, owing to some contradictions, Visu also walked away.
• The music of Annamalai was composed by Deva, and songs were written by Vairamuthu.
• Radha Ravi, Annamalai's antagonist, was first reluctant to play Ashok's (Sarath Babu's) father. But, Rajinikanth insisted that Radha Ravi play the role.
• In Khudgarz, a rich man was the main character. In Annamalai, the poor man was made the protagonist.
• Khushbu's character had the same name as her in Annamalai but was later changed to Subbu aka Subbulakshmi.
• Annamalai was produced by K Balachander's wife Rajam, and daughter Pushpa Kandhasamy.

• Vandhenda Paalkaaran was choreographed by Prabhudheva.
• The scene where Annamalai (Rajinikanth) enters a ladies' hostel and gets terrified by a snake was shot at Chakra House, in Alwarpet.
• The song Vetri Nichayam was shot in some of the high-profile hotels in Bombay.
• Suresh Krissna wanted the picturisation of Vandhenda Paalkaaran to be vibrant, and colourful like the songs of Bollywood films, featuring Big B.
• The title song, Annamalai was shot at the Fernhills Palace in Ooty, while the rest was filmed at Sivaji Gardens.
• Initially, Rajinikanth objected to the inclusion of the superstar title in Annamalai, as he felt embarrassed about calling him so.

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