Animated Rajinikanth starts work

Superstar Rajinikanth is starting work in his daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth's film 'Sultan – The Warrior' today. Shooting is happening in a 3D Motion Capture studio in Hyderabad.

It has been confirmed that Vijayalakshmi would be playing the leading lady in the film and not Ileana as reported earlier.

Motion Capture technology entails actors to be wired up with infrared lights and as the actor moves, the movements are recorded onto a computer. These movements would then be applied to 3D models that are designed after the actors.

This is the very first time that a 3D animation movie is being made based on an Indian actor. Rajinikanth's unique body language and mannerisms would be reflected completely on the 3D model that's going to play Sultan – the warrior.

The movie is being produced by Ocher Studios owned by Soundarya Rajinikanth and is expected to be released in 2009.

Ileana in Rajini's Sultan

Tollywood glam doll Ileana has been roped in to act with 'Superstar' Rajinikanth in ‘Sultan The Warrior’, an animated film being directed by the top actor's daughter Soundarya.

Ileana, who entered Kollywood with ‘Kedi’ opposite Ravi Krishna, would begin her second innings in Tamil filmdom with Sultan.

Besides, she has also been asked to share the screen with Vikram in a movie to be directed by K S Ravikumar. Vikram would act in two different roles in this project.

The movie is produced by Soundarya Rajinikanth's Ocher Studios. A R Rahman is scoring the music.

“It is privilege to do a movie on my father, who is a mass hero and man admired by the masses”, says Soundarya.

‘Sultan The Warrior’ would hit the screens in April 2008.

Rajinikanth's 'Sultan - The Warrior' to release in April 2009

The much-awaited Rajinikanth starring animated movie 'Sultan -The Warrior' featuring Rajinikanth will hit movie screens in April 2009. April is considered to be an auspicious month for Rajinikanth for all his films released in April have gone on to become big hits.

After scouting in Vietnam for selecting the backdrops to shoot the movie, the film crew was back in Chennai recently. Rajinikanth is now expected to join the crew to commence work in a Motion Capture Animation Studio in Hyderabad to shoot for the movie. It would be later animated.

Motion Capture technology entails the artist to be fitted with infra red lights that can be tracked on the computer. All the actions performed by the actor would then be applied to the 3D model. Incredibly, the 3D model (designed just like Rajinikanth) would do exactly the same actions that the star performs in the studio. Movies like 'Titanic' used this technology with stuntmen in studios and later adapted on live action sequences (people washed away by water) to get the stunning scenes as real as possible.

'Sultan – The Warrior' has five songs set to tunes by A R Rahman and it would be released next february. The movie is being produced and directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth for her home production house Ocher Studios.