Empuraan’s Prithviraj Sukumaran: Something I read about Rajinikanth inspired the Lucifer scene in which...

In one of the early scenes of 2019’s Lucifer, Mohanlal as Stephen Nedumpally, is seen making his way to the venue where the mortal remains of the Kerala chief minister PK Ramdas (Sachin Khedekar) have been kept for the public to pay their last respects. The late leader’s daughter Priyadarshini (Manju Warrier), though, is dead against Stephen’s arrival and upon her wishes, acting chief minister Mahesha Varma (Sai Kumar), instructs the police to block traffic leading up to the venue, and, thereby, prevent him from seeing PKR one last time.

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What Stephen then does is that he gets off his car and proceeds to walk the rest of the way, as the crowd that had gathered make way to let him pass through. This scene has been widely discussed as one of the most goosebumps-inducing moments of Lucifer, which, actor Prithviraj Sukumaran , who has also directed the film, says was inspired by something he had read about Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth.

How Rajinikanth inspired Lucifer

In a promotional conversation with Behindwoods, Prithviraj, who is now gearing up for the release of the second part in the Lucifer trilogy, Empuraan, says that the scene was conceptualized based on a report he came across in which it was said that Rajinikanth’s car was stopped to make way for then chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s motorcade to pass by. While Prithviraj did not get into the details of what he’d read and added that he was unsure about its veracity.

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The incident that the actor-filmmaker was referring to reportedly happened sometime in 2008 or 2009, and after Rajini’s car was stopped, he reportedly asked the police officials who’d blocked the flow of traffic how long it would take for them to resume vehicular movement, while also wondering if he’d been stopped deliberately. Rajini allegedly then got out of his car and began walking; in one version of events it was towards his house and in another to a small shop in the neighbourhood, where he proceeded to buy cigarettes from and have a smoke.

Either which way, seeing the superstar a huge crowd gathered quickly, which made it even more difficult for the police, who then supposedly let Rajinikanth’s car move past the blockade.

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