Rajinikanth reveals he cried after listening to the script of Annaatthe

Actor Rajinikanth’s latest release Annaatthe has grossed over ₹200 crore worldwide, despite earning mixed response from critics and audiences alike. The 70-year-old star has revealed via a voice note that he cried after listening to the script of Annaatthe.

Rajinikanth, in a post via voice-based social media platform Hoote, opened about the story behind how Annaatthe was signed.

Annaatthe has been directed by Siva, who had collaborated with Rajinikanth for the first time. A couple of years ago, Rajinikanth’s Petta released alongside Siva’s Viswasam, which featured Ajith in the lead role. It was after watching Viswasam that Rajinikanth expressed interest to work with Siva.

“Petta showed me in a stylish avatar, and it was released alongside Viswasam. Both the films were super hits at the box-office. When I was keen on watching Viswasam, its producer arranged a special screening for me. I liked the film till the interval, but it still amazed me how it turned out to be a huge success. It was in the climax that I understood why it was so successful, and I started clapping,” Rajinikanth recalled.

The veteran subsequently met director Siva after the screening. “When Siva met me, he said it was easy to make a hit film with me. It left me stunned, because nobody had said that to me before. He said that I should star in a story-based film and that it should be set in a village,” he said.

Rajinikanth said he asked Siva to come up with a village-based script in 15 days. “In 12 days, he came with the script. He told me he needs two and a half hours of my time and three bottles of water. At the end of the narration, I started crying, and I hugged him,” Rajinikanth said.

In Annaatthe, Rajinikanth plays a village head. The story is centered on his relationship with his younger sister, played by Keerthy Suresh. Even though the film was heavily panned for its melodramatic brother-sister relationship scenes, the film managed to do well at the box-office.