Sondarya Rajnikant talks to SUDHISH KAMATHabout growing up, her family, her superstar father and much, much more
Photos Sunder
calling the shots Sondarya Rajnikant
What if you are Superstar’s biggest fan and you got a chance to live with him all your life? And then you grow up, dream big
and get a chance to direct him in your very first movie — a $10 million baby with Adlabs? And, though he’s your father, here
you are telling him what to do and calling the shots.
And, apart from being among the hottest single eligible women in the city, you’ve signed an exclusive motion picture
production deal with Warner Bros., a deal with Westland Books for two books including a biography on the Superstar himself,
and are helming Ocher Studios, a three-year-old company that executes about 40 per cent of the market’s animation and visual
effects projects in this part of the world.
All of this, on your own, without a single rupee from him. Well, that much success when you are still twenty-something
usually adds a few kilos to the weight of your head. But not her. Sondarya Rajnikant travels light.
So when she breezes in sporting sunglasses, a rudraksh around her neck, a smart deep blue semi-formal shirt buttoned down
with jeans to sit down for an interview without a prepared speech or notes to read from, you are impressed. It’s a style
statement that incorporates fashion, spirituality, simplicity, business and casualness.
Just back after her first experience shooting for her own film in Vietnam (she spent 40 days shooting the action sequences
including a war scene with international stuntmen) and ahead of leaving to Hyderabad to shoot with her Dad for “Sultan”, she
seems to be in a mood to open up about her company, her private life and family.
“The shooting is strictly for reference. What we shoot, we edit and then motion-capture,” she explains. “I expect perfection.
So even if we could shoot just one guy and replicate it for an army, we shot with 100 guys. Just for reference.”
She’s certain “Sultan” is going to break new grounds in animation. “We’re attempting something as realistic as “Beowulf”.
I’ve always been interested in visual effects and I knew I wanted to direct but I didn’t want to do the usual things. Why
travel the road already taken? I have always felt that everybody has looked at India as an outsourcing hub. But it’s time we
produce content that’s as good as Japanese or Chinese content.”
Sondarya recalls how her 18-month-old dream was originally conceived as ‘Superstar’ and then titled ‘Hara’.
“The main character is still called Hara. We know Hariharan is Ayyappan. But we’re releasing in Hindi and the people at
Adlabs told us they would say ‘Haara’ (as in flop). So I told this to Appa, he took a minute to think over it and said: Call
it Sultan. It’s universal for a story about a warrior.”
Being the youngest in the company where all, but one, employees are less than 40 years old, Sondarya says she’s never had a
problem with responsibility. “I was Cul-Sec (Cultural Secretary) in school, I was class leader... In the university too, I’ve
been the group head. I have always been the person who leads, never the one who follows.”
Being a leader needs vision and Sondarya can see far enough, her self-belief further vindicated when she convinced Warner
Bros. to sign along the dotted line. “It was a lot of work but we signed the third time we met.”
On the state of films
Every other hero wants to be Superstar. But isn’t her Dad responsible for this himself? Creating an iconic status so
desirable that everybody wants to get there.
“Yes, he’s responsible,” she laughs. “The most aped part is how he walks swiftly towards the camera… Everybody is doing it.
He’s an inspiration but there can be only one Rajnikant. We are going through a phase where it is easy to get into films but
the question is how many films are you going to last? That’s why I say the script is the hero. We’re trying to do films with
good scripts, not necessarily hero-centric films. We’re trying to cover a market that’s not been touched. We’re starting
production on Venkat Prabhu’s “Goa” in October. We want to encourage performing actors, different genres… not aruva all the
time. Everybody wants to be a don like Baasha, everybody wants 10 people to walk behind them. We hope we can change that.”
SONDARYA'S FAVOURITES
Genre – Fantasy
Films — “Lion King”, “Thalapathy”, “Roja”, “Shrek”, “Finding Nemo”, “Annamalai”, “Lagaan”, “Dil Chahta Hai”, “Gladiator”,
“Last Samurai”.
Filmmakers — Mani Ratnam, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood.
GROWING UP - THE PERSONAL STORY
My father used to do 14 films in a year though now he does one every three years. My mother never made us feel his absence.
My sister and I used to fight a lot. For clothes, in particular. Mother had to come and separate us.
We are very close. Mother insisted we stayed in the same room. After Aishwarya got married, it took time for us to accept it.
That first night when she wasn’t at home, that was the time I realised how much I missed her. I called her and cried.
The best experience growing up was when we took off to see the World Cup in London. We love watching cricket as a family. You
should see my Dad cheer India. He’s out there standing and whistling. It was cold but we never took flights. We insisted on
taking trains. We wanted to see the countryside.
You know how my Dad is. We were raised to live simple. So even when you know you can have what you want, you are happy with
what you have. I’m not saying I don’t splurge. I’m obsessed with Aviator frames (sunglasses). I have the same thing in
different colours. When I took Appa to Brussels for a body scan to Eyetronics (the company that did 3D scanning for Brad Pitt
for “Troy” and Johnny Depp for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”), we were there for 20 days. On the way back, we stopped
in London and I took my Dad shopping. He’s the best shopping companion I’ve had. He never complained and I was like a
princess just buying whatever I wanted and he was carrying all the bags. I took pictures of him carrying the bags thinking
‘That’s Rajnikant, carrying luggage for his daughter.’ He’s a fun dad.
Appa can’t walk on the road the way he does in London. We do go out. I do get recognised. When people come and talk to you,
we don’t look at it as interference. It doesn’t reach a point where it becomes a nuisance.
But can I go and sit at Zaras? No, I can’t.
