Quite a few Naalaiya Iyakkunar-fame directors are getting a break in Tamil cinema in recent times. The latest to join this list is Rajkumar, who is set to make his debut with this week’s release, Annanukku Jai, which finally hits the screens after a protracted struggle of well over five years. The debutant says his political satire is inspired by the evergreen Muhummad Bin Tughlaq, and to a lesser extent, by the Sathyaraj-starrer Amaidhi Padai.
A travel buff, Rajkumar found inspiration for his film from a real-life incident. “I’ve taken that as the base and added commercial ingredients to come up with an imaginative film,” he says, adding that he wishes they could have shot the film in live locations. “We tried initially, but too much of crowd disturbance came in the way. So ultimately, we decided to use a set and make up for lost time.”
On casting Dinesh in the lead, Rajkumar says he made his choice during the Attakathi days. “Dinesh gives so much life to a character with his effective body language. The role hardly needs any histrionics and I felt he would do justice to it with his subtle acting. Also, most of the happenings in the film are confined to towns and small cities, similar to Attakathi.”Rajkumar signs off saying he has two aces that he is banking on — the musical score of Arrol Corelli and the chemistry of the lead pair, Dinesh-Mahima Nambiar.