Rajinikanth was a friend of Mani Ratnam's brother G. Venkateswaran, and they were talking about a film together from the late 80s.
Mani Ratnam had met Rajini twice in the late 80s because the latter had expressed interest in working with him. However. Mani did not have anything for him then.
According to Mani, he was waiting for a script that would have scope for Rajinikanth's stardom but yet remain his own film.
'I wanted to offer a script that Rajinikanth could not say no to. That caused the delay in our collaboration,' Mani has been quoted as saying in an interview.
Thalapathi is based on the Mahabharata, with Rajini representing Karnna, Shobana as Draupadi, Mammootty as Duryodhana, Srividya as Kunti and Arvind swamy as Arjuna, all in the contemporary world.
Though not made obvious, Om Puri's character is said to be the cinematic equivalent of Mahabharatha's Krishna, as he tells Surya the truth about his birth and invites him to join his brothers.
'I wanted to present a realistic Rajinikanth, which I saw in Mullum Malarum minus all his style elements. It was a tough job, but definitely not impossible,' Mani Ratnam has been quoted as saying.
Thalapathi remains the only collaboration between Mani Ratnam and Rajinikanth.
Rajinikanth underwent a makeover and sported a new hair style for the film.
Rajinikanth recalled that he had tough time while shooting for the film as 'Mani was from a different school of film making and asked me to feel emotions even when taking part in a fight scene!'
Jayaram was initially considered for the Arjun character, but he rejected the offer due to scheduling conflicts.
It was Mammootty who had suggested Jayaram to Mani Ratnam.
Arwind Swamy, in his fim debut, was cast after Santhosh Sivan spotted him during a portfolio shoot.
Krishna (brother of director Vishnuvardhan) was chosen to play the younger version of Surya, although the character was later scrapped on the edit table because it affected the film's length.
Malayalam actor Manoj K. Jayan was cast after Mani was impressed with his performance in the Malayalam film Perumthachan, thus making his acting debut in Tamil cinema.
Cinematography was handled by Santosh Sivan, the film being his first in Tamil and his first with Mani Ratnam.
Mani chose to shoot the opening sequence in black and white, because according to him, 'Black and white gives the sense of this being a prologue without us having to define it as a prologue.'
Mani had always refused to reveal the father of the protagonist. 'The film consciously avoids the who and the how of the underage girl's first love. It was the child, Surya, who mattered,' he had said
An intriguing aspect of Mani Ratnam's interpreatation of Mahabharatha is how sympathetic and conscientious it makes its Duryodhan. “You are making me a better person,' he tells Surya.
In Mani Ratnam's version, both men - Karna and Duryodhana - benefit from the relationship: Surya is also made more stable and responsible by Devraj’s guiding presence.
More than 1,000 songs from various countries were nominated in a BBC poll to choose the 10 most popular songs of all time worldwide in 2002 and “Rakkamma' was leading the poll for a brief period.
After leading the poll for sometime, 'Rakkamma' was named the fourth most popular song of all time, ahead of chartbusters like Yesterday, Bohemian Rhapsody and Stairway to Heaven.
The Sundari song was shot at the renowned Chennakesava Temple, at Somanathapura in Karnataka.
The Sundari song was first rejected by Mani Ratnam because he was afraid that the tune which is too melodious wouldn’t merge with his plan of shooting the song as an ancient war zone.
Rajinikanth donned Samurai apparel for the song and this was the closest Mani Ratnam came to doing something like his idol Akira Kurosawa.
The 'Rakkamma' song was shot at Rayagopura, well-known, historical temple with intricate carvings at Melukote, Karnataka.
This interoggation scene had a rookie debutant, Arvind Swami, matching up to many huge stalwarts. When this shot was completed the whole crew applauded for Arwind Swamy's performance.
Here, both the parties start the discussion in an indirect way, during which time the camera keeps revolving around. When they finally cut to the chase, the camera stops, adopting a 3rd person gaze.
Thalapathi was Mani Ratnam's last film with Illayaraja after which he moved onto A.R Rahman for Roja.
The Soundtrack of the film has been included in The Guardian's 1000 albums to hear before you die.
According to Santosh Sivan, Ilaiyaraaja finished composing the entire soundtrack of Thalapathi in 'half a day'.
The audio rights of the film were sold to Lahari Music for 7.2 million, then a record price.
The recording for the 'Sundari' song happened in Mumbai with RD Burman's orchestra. When Raja gave them the notes, the musicians were so moved by the composition that they gave him a standing ovation.
All lyrics for the film were written by Vaali.
The film was dubbed and released in Telugu and in Hindi as Dalapathi. The Hindi lyrics were written by PK Mishra.
The film was remade in Kannada in 2003 as Annavru with Rajnikanth’s friend Ambareesh and Darshan.
In November 2011, Bollywood producer Bharat Shah had acquired the rights to remake Thalapathi in Hindi.
At the 39th Filmfare Awards South, Mani Ratnam won the Best Director – Tamil award, and Ilaiyaraaja won for Best Music Director – Tamil, for Thalapathi.
As per an urban legend, Surya (Karnan) Surya dies in the climax, trying to save Mammootty in the film's original version. In fact, he keeps saying 'Unakkaaga uyiraiyum kodupen' throughout the film.
It was widely reported that Mani had to reshoot the climax so that Mammootty’s character Deva dies in the end, to ensure the film's business prospects.
However, in a recent interview, Mani revealed that no such thing happened. 'I didn't even have the budget to shoot a single climax at the time. How would I have shot two climaxes then?' he said.
Rajinikanth's retelling of the Karnan character was different from other Karnan-inspired heroes: Big B’s intense, brooding Vijay in Deewaar (1975), or Shashi Kapoor's reticent Karan in Kalyug (1981).
Thalapathu was the most expensive South Indian film at the time, with a budget of 3 crores.
Thalapathi was edited by renowned editor, Suresh Urs. It was his first big project in Tamil.
Karthik Subbaraj, who directed Petta, had said that he watched the film during his childhood. Several references to Thalapathi are made in his 2015 gangster drama, Jigarthanda.
Atlee, who directed three out of the last four Vijay films, cites Thalapathi as the main inspiration for him to consider cinema as a career.
Rajinikanth's hairstyle in his daughter Soundarya's directorial venture Kochadaiiyaan (2014) was inspired by his appearance in Thalapathi.
The song 'Kaattu Kuyilu' saw the collaboration of the two singing legends - Yesudas and SP Balasubrahmanyam
Bhanupriya was Mani's first and only choice for the character of Padma.
M.I.A song 'Bamboo Banga' later sampled the song 'Kaattukuyilu'.
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