MGR lives on through Kizhakku Africavil Raju, an upcoming animated film that stars him as lead. The project is the brainchild of director Arul Moorthy and is backed by Prabhu Deva and producer Isari Ganesh. The teaser and audio of the film were launched recently.
A project with the same name was launched by MGR in the seventies. It never took off as the actor got busy with his political career. Arul Moorthy says the project shaped up only because of the late MGR and producer K Ganesh. “There are two people responsible for the shaping up of Kizhakku Africavil Raju. The first one is the legendary MGR himself, who offered us such a beautiful title. The other one is Producer K. Ganesh, who gave me complete freedom to make the movie.”
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The film is an attempt to make sure that MGR’s dream comes true, says K Ganesh. “This was supposed to be MGR’s crown jewel. He had planned to shoot across the world for this film. Now, with advances in technology, we can make sure that it is realised.”
D Imman composes the music for the film, and Vairamuthu writes the lyrics.
For co-producer Prabhu Deva, the film is an opportunity to relive his childhood – he used to watch MGR’s films as a child. Life has come full circle, with him producing a film with an animated version of the actor in the lead role.
“I still remember the days when I used to watch MGR’s movies in Kamadhenu theatre along with my mother. During my childhood, I would see him drive past the street we lived on and get mesmerised. My father has choreographed four films of his, and this is a big honour for our family,” he said.
Vairamuthu, in conversation with Silverscreen, says that it is an incredible honour to be writing the songs for such a ‘prestigious’ film. “MGR lives on through his films. And now, we have a new project that will make sure that his legend inspires the young citizens of Tamil Nadu.”
The teaser itself features MGR as Raju. The yesteryear actor sports a leather jacket and rides a super bike. The novelty does not extend beyond MGR’s appearance in the film and the somewhat rudimentary animation (by DaVinci Media Lab). The actual teaser resembles that of any other star vehicle. MGR’s superbike zooms off faster than a fighter jet. None of this is plausible, but in the movies,
especially in a film that has MGR in the lead, anything goes.
The teaser lists Jayalalithaa and Sayyeshaa as well. While they cannot be seen in the teaser, the movie team says that they have significant roles to play in the film.