Soundarya Rajinikanth opens up about Kochadaiiyaan's failure: 'It would be completely different if...'

After spending years behind the screen, Soundarya Rajinikanth made her directorial debut with Rajinikanth's Kochadaiiyaan in 2014, a big-budget film mounted on the coveted tag of being India's first photorealistic motion capture film. Unfortunately, the film was met with mostly negative reviews, leading to massive losses. The director-producer has now opened up about the failure of her first film, noting that she would have made it differently if she were to remake the period action film today.

In a recent interview to Galatta Plus ahead of the release of With Love, her latest production venture, Soundarya called Kochadaiiyaan her "first baby" and expressed her pride on making the film at a time when knowledge regarding the technology was limited. "I'm incredibly proud that even after a decade, no one has attempted another full-fledged performance-capture, motion capture film like that. It will always remain close to my heart. At the time, the technology was evolving, and every single frame had multiple layers that we painstakingly created. Looking back now, I realise how much technology has advanced. If I were to remake a film like Kochadaiiyaan or revisit that world today, it would be a completely different experience," she said, while sharing that she loved working with her father, Deepika Padukone, Jackie Shroff, Nasser, and sarathkumar. She also highlighted AR Rahman's support and his interest in the technology.

"Even recently, during a road trip, we were listening to the film’s soundtrack, and it still sounds so grand and fresh. Ten years ago, I even attempted to bring back Nagesh sir through technology in Kochadaiiyaan. When people speak to me about the film, they often mention culture and I believe that’s the true impact it created," she added.

While Soundarya was interested in graphics and the world of VFX, she mentioned that she wanted to "immortalise" her father. Talking about the criticism faced by the film, she explained, "May be if it had been made as a live film, people would have appreciated it better. I faced a lot of criticism at the time, but I am happy for making it as even today, people ask about that film to me."

Written by KS Ravikumar, Kochadaiiyaan was released in 2014 with Rajinikanth playing dual roles and Deepika Padukone in her Tamil debut. The supporting cast also featured Aadhi Pinisetty, Nassar, Shobana and Rukmini Vijayakumar.