Rajinikanth: Siva delivered a hit with Annaatthe, just as he promised

On Monday, Superstar Rajinikanth shared voice messages on the recently launched app, Hoote, about his experiences of finalising Siva's Annaatthe. 

He shared that Rajini's first interaction with Siva came after the release of Viswasam. The actor's Petta and Siva's Viswasam starring Ajith got released on the same day. After seeing the release of Viswasam, Rajini wanted to see what it was about the film that made it highly successful. After seeing the first half, the Superstar didn't really understand the hype behind the film, but as the movie progressed, he understood the success formula. "In fact, I remember breaking into applause as the film ended," said Rajinikanth, who added he met with Siva after watching the film.

When Siva came home for the meet, Rajini instantly liked him as he felt there was honesty in his words. When the topic of doing a film together came up, Rajini had insisted that delivering a hit was important than doing just another film. Siva replied saying, "Giving you a hit is easy sir."

Rajini was surprised by Siva's response. He said, "Nobody has said that to me so far. People usually tell me, 'We can make it a hit sir or we can try sir.' There has never been a director who has told me that giving me a hit is easy."

When Rajini asked Siva how he was so confident, the director mentioned two factors. "One, you must be in a film with a good story, and two, you must play a village character as it has been a long time since you have done such a role. If we have both these, it will be enough," Rajini recalls Siva as telling him.

Impressed with Siva's conviction, Rajini asked him to come up with a good story. The director returned after 20 days for a two-and-a-half-hour narration. The superstar admitted that he was moved when Siva began narrating the story. "I had tears in my eyes by the time Siva was narrating the climax," he said. 

When Rajini asked Siva to make the film exactly the way he narrated, Siva replied that he will make it better. He also assured that people would throng theatres in large numbers to watch the film. 

"He has kept his promise. Annaatthe is a big success. There were a lot of problems while making the film but Siva faced all of them with a smile," Rajini said before signing off.