Actor Rajinikanth was given a rousing welcome by his fans at the audio launch event of his next Vettaiyan on Friday.
Before making his speech, the actor performed the 'Manasilayo' hookstep from the film to claps and whistles at the venue. Despite saying he liked TJ Gnanavel's Jai Bhim, he asked the director to make a film that people would celebrate as he doesn't see himself in the "message space."
Rajinikanth added, saying that Gnanavel took 10 more days and agreed to his condition while making a counter-condition that he can't make films like Nelson or Lokesh Kanagaraj, to which Rajini responded, saying he wants a commercial film in Gnanavel's style; if he wanted a Nelson-style or Lokesh-style film, he'll go directly to them and won't insist Gnanavel on making one such film.
Rajinikanth described this moment as a tense one. "If you deliver a flop, there is tension because you'll be expected to bounce back with a hit. Likewise, even after you make a hit film, then you'll be expected to maintain consistency. That is the kind of tension that has built up after the hit of Jailer," he said.
Rajinikanth said he was so particular in roping in Anirudh as the music director that when Gnanavel said he would 100 percent go for Anirudh, he replied that he is 1000 percent sure he wants to go with Anirudh. Rajini left the music composer's eyes welled as he said, "Anirudh is like my son."
Clearing the air around the release date of Vettaiyan, the announcement of which forced Suriya's Kanguva to move its release, Rajinikanth said, "We had planned an October 10 release as early as the commencement of filming with pooja, but we couldn't announce it back then as Lyca was under financial pressure."
Directed by TJ Gnanavel, Vettaiyan stars an ensemble cast that includes Amitabh Bachchan (in his Tamil debut), Fahadh Faasil, Rana Daggubati, Manju Warrier, Ritika Singh, Dushara Vijayan and VJ Rakshan. Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth are reuniting for this film after 33 years. Their last film was Hum, which was released in 1991.
The cast had recently finished dubbing for their portions in the film.
On the technical crew, Vettaiyan has music by Anirudh. This marks Anirudh's fourth collaboration with Rajinikanth after Petta (2019), Darbar (2020), and Jailer (2023). Other members include cinematographer SR Kathir and editor Philomin Raj.
Vettaiyan is scheduled to hit theatres on October 10 in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada.
