Rajinikanth Announces 'Padayappa 2'; To Be Neelambari’s Story
Ramya Krishnan played the iconic villain in the first film
Ahead of Rajinikanth's birthday on Friday, December 12, a team that included Rajinikanth’s daughter Soundarya, announced the re-release of Superstar’s 1999 blockbuster Padayappa. The film was directed by KS Ravikumar and it went on to become the biggest hit of the year when it was released. The re-release will coincide with Rajinikanth’s 50 years in the film industry, a career that began with a negative role in K Balachander’s Kamal Haasan-starrer Apoorva Ragangal in 1975.
In a video that was put out to welcome the re-release, Rajinikanth also announced the launch of a sequel to Padayappa, which will focus on the story of Neelambari, the iconic villain played by Ramya Krishnan in the first film. In this video, the Superstar also spoke about the craze the first film created upon release, especially with the female audiences who had broken through the gates of movie theatres to watch the original. He also said the Neelambari character would get an exciting return in the new film. In this 37-minute video, he also said that his team was discussing the story of the new film and that they would proceed with making it once they lock a script.
Superstar Rajinikanth was most recently honoured with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement award at the closing ceremony of the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, marking his 50-year journey in the film industry. The 74-year-old attended the ceremony with his family members: wife Latha, his daughters, Aishwarya and Soundarya, and grandchildren.
After receiving the award, Rajinikanth reflected on his journey, saying that his five decades in the film industry feel much shorter to him than they sound. “50 years of acting in cinema felt like 10 or 15 years. If there are 100 more janams (lives), I would like to be born again as an actor and as Rajinikanth. All this honour goes to the cinema industry and mainly to the Tamil people... the gods who keep me alive," said the Superstar to rapturous applause.