''Ghajinikanth'' is a 2018 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed by Santhosh P. Jayakumar and produced by K.E.Gnanavel Raja. The movie stars

Arya Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

and

Sayyeshaa Sayyeshaa Saigal (born 12 August 1997), known mononymously as Sayyeshaa, is an Indian actress and dancer who primarily appears in Tamil-language films. After working in a Telugu film ''Akhil'' (2015), she made her Hindi debut in Ajay Devgn's '' ...

in the lead roles. It is a remake of the 2015 Telugu film ''

Bhale Bhale Magadivoy ''Bhale Bhale Magadivoy'' () is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Maruthi. Produced by Bunny Vasu under the production companies GA2 Pictures and UV Creations, ''Bhale Bhale Magadivoy'' stars Nani and La ...

.'' The music for the film is composed by

Balamurali Balu Balamurali Balu is an indian film music director and lyricist who has worked as predominantly in tamil film industry . His First movie was ''Madhiyal Vell'' and composed many movies like Pallu Padama Paathuka Laterly he composed movie called ...

. Soon after the film's release, lead actors Arya and Sayyeshaa got married.

Plot

The protagonist, Rajinikanth (

), was born in a theatre screening ''

Dharmathin Thalaivan ''Dharmathin Thalaivan'' () is a 1988 Indian Tamil-language action-drama film directed by S. P. Muthuraman, starring Rajinikanth in dual roles, along with Prabhu, Suhasini, Khushbu, Nassar (actor), Nassar and Captain Raju in other roles. It i ...

'', and like one of

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

's characters in that film, has a forgetful nature. The film doffs its hat at the older film by introducing its protagonist in underwear as he has forgotten to wear pants. This condition of Rajini is a constant source of embarrassment to his parents Ramanathan (

Aadukalam Naren Narayanan (better known as Aadukalam Naren) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil and few Telugu films, mainly in supporting roles. He made his début in 1997 film ''Raman Abdullah'' but he got noticed for his role in the 2011 film, ''Aa ...

) and Lakshmi (

Uma Padmanabhan Uma Padmanabhan (born 27 September 1965 ) is an Indian film and television actress. Career Uma Padmanabhan had her early education in Chennai and graduated in commerce from SIET, Nandanam. When SUN TV was founded in 1993, she applied for the ...

), as they cannot find a suitable match for him. One prospective girl's father Sathyamoorthy (

Sampath Raj Sampath Raj (born 25 December 1968) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil and Telugu language, Telugu films, in addition to Kannada and Malayalam films. He is best known for appearing in each film of director Ven ...

) insults Rajini because of this. As fate would have it, Rajini ends up falling in love with Sathyamoorthy's daughter Vandhana (

), but she is unaware of Rajini's forgetfulness. How long can Rajini continue with this facade, especially with Ajay (Lijeesh), a cop who wants to marry Vandhana and is trying to expose him?

Cast

as Rajinikanth Ramanathan aka Ghajinikanth, the amnesiac protagonist who falls in love with Vandhana *

as Vandhana Sathyamoorthy, Rajini's girlfriend who is unaware of his forgetfulness *

as Ramanathan, Rajini's father *

Uma Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi in ...

as Lakshmi Ramanathan, Rajini's mother *

as Sathyamoorthy, Vandhana's father * Lijeesh as Inspector Ajay, a cop who wants to marry Vandhana *

Rajendran A. Rajendran,(born 1 June 1957) credited as Motta Rajendran or ''Naan Kadavul'' Rajendran, is an Indian stunt double and actor working mainly in Tamil cinema. He debuted in 2003 with the Tamil film '' Pithamagan'' and has worked as a stunt doub ...

as Rajini's friend *

Karunakaran Karunakaran may refer to: * K. Karunakaran (1918–2010), Indian politician and member of the Indian National Congress (INC) * Dr. T. Karunakaran (1946-2019), Indian academic, social reformer, rural developer, founder of AGRINDUS * Karunakaran (ac ...

as Karuna *

Kaali Venkat Kaali Venkat (born 5 May 1984) is an Indian actor who mainly appears in Tamil language films. Personal life Venkat hails from Kudaiyadevanpatti a village near Kovilpatti. Venkat used to act in dramas during his school days. With an ambition to ...

as Uthaman *

Delhi Ganesh Delhi Ganesh is an Indian actor who mostly acts in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1976 to present. Before films, he was a member of the Delhi-based theatre troupe, ''Dakshina Bharata Natak ...

as Rajini's grandfather * Sulakshana as Rajini's grandmother *

Madhan Bob S. Krishnamoorthy (born 19 October 1953) professionally known as Madhan Bob, is an Indian actor and comedian, appearing in many Tamil films in supporting roles. Madhan Babu is known for his amusing facial expressions, laughter and protruding ey ...

as Rajini's boss *

Manobala Manobala (born 8 December 1953) is an Indian film director, producer, actor and comedian who predominantly plays supporting roles in Tamil-language films. He started his career in Tamil cinema in the early 1970s and with Kamal Haasan's referen ...

as Kamal Vishwanathan *

K. Sivasankar K. Shivashankar (7 December 1948 – 28 November 2021) was an Indian dance choreographer who worked in more than 10 languages but majorly with South Indian films, including Tamil films & Telugu films. Early life Shivashankar was born in Govin ...

as Mohan's father *

Venkat Subha Venkat Subha (died 29 May 2021) was an Indian actor, producer and writer. Career He was known for his roles in films such as ''Azhagiya Theeye'' (2004), '' Kanda Naal Mudhal'' (2005) and '' Mozhi'' (2007). He also acted in few television soap ...

as broker *

Linga A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional im ...

as Police officer *Rahul Thatha as area friend *

Neelima Rani Neelima Rani is an Indian actress, a dubbing artist and producer who is mainly known for her roles in Tamil-language soap operas and movies in antagonistic roles. Career Neelima started her career in ''Oru Pennin Kathai'' when she was in sc ...

as Gayathri, Vandhana's sister-in-law *

K. S. G. Venkatesh K. S. G. Venkatesh is an Indian actor and producer in the Tamil film industry. He is the son of director K. S. Gopalakrishnan K. S. Gopalakrishnan was an Indian screenwriter, director, producer, and lyricist, who worked in Tamil, Malayala ...

as Gayathri's father *

Dubbing Janaki Dasari Janaki, known professionally as Dubbing Janaki, is an Indian actress and voice artist. She has appeared in several films and television shows in various South Indian languages. Early life Janaki was born in Peddapuram, East Godavari Di ...

as Kamal's mother *

Jangiri Madhumitha Madhumitha is an Indian actress who appears in Tamil language films and reality show in vijay TV. She often portrays comedy roles and made her film debut through Rajesh's ''Oru Kal Oru Kannadi'' (2012). She also participated in TV shows like Lol ...

as Mrs. Uthaman *Sheela as Gayathri's mother *Rekha Suresh as Mrs. Kamal Vishwanathan *

Hema Rajkumar Hema may refer to: * Hemā (mythology), a figure from Polynesian mythology * HEMA (store), a Dutch chain of stores * Hema (supermarket) (盒马), a supermarket chain in China * Hema maps, an Australian map publisher * Hema people, an ethnic group ...

*Karnaa Radha as shopkeeper *

Baba Bhaskar Baba Bhaskar is an Indian dance choreographer, director and actor who works mainly in Tamil language, Tamil and Telugu language, Telugu language films in addition to some Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada films. Career He was born and brought up i ...

in a special appearance

Production

In October 2015, a

remake of the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

film ''

'' (2015) with

G. V. Prakash Kumar G. V. Prakash Kumar is an Indian composer, actor, producer and singer known for his work in Tamil films and a few Telugu films as well. His first film was S Pictures' ''Veyil'' (2006) and he became popular in Tamil cinema by the early 2010s. He ...

as the protagonist was announced, but never came to fruition. In late November 2017,

Studio Green Studio Green is an Cinema of India, Indian film production and distribution company based in Chennai. The company was founded in 2006 by K. E. Gnanavel Raja, relative of actor Sivakumar and many of their films feature his sons Suriya and Karthi ...

announced that they would collaborate with filmmaker Santhosh P. Jayakumar for a comedy film starring

and

in the lead roles. Titled ''Ghajinikanth'', the film was revealed to be a remake of ''Bhale Bhale Magadivoy'', and the first look poster had Arya in an ethnic attire resembling a character portrayed by

in the 1988 film, ''

''. The title is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsSuriya Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and a philanthropist. He primarily works in Tamil cinema where he is one of the highest paid actors. He received numerou ...

's character in '' Ghajini'' (2005). The shoot began with a song sequence shot in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, before the team completed scenes in Chennai. Santhosh was directing this alongside another film ''

Iruttu Araiyil Murattu Kuththu ''Iruttu Araiyil Murattu Kuthu'' () is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language adult horror comedy film written and directed by Santhosh P. Jayakumar and produced by K. E. Gnanavel Raja. The film stars Gautham Karthik and VJ Sha Ra, with Yashika Anand, ...

'' (2018). Shooting ended in 39 days.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Release

Production budget of the film was valued at 8 crore excluding Arya's salary. The satellite rights of the film were sold to

STAR Vijay Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly Star India), a subsidiary of Asianet Star Communications. The channel's headquarters is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Star Vijay change ...

Critical reception

''Indian Express'' wrote "There are several ways to keep the viewer engaged - it could be through the story, its characters, the writing or the filmmaking. Sadly, Ghajinikanth doesn't tick any of the boxes." ''Times of India'' wrote "Despite the film offering great scope for comedy, Ghajinikanth is entertaining only in places." ''Sify'' called it "Family-friendly comedy entertainer" and wrote "Overall, Ghajinikanth is a time pass entertainer and you will enjoy watching it with family and friends!"

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 7850980 Indian romantic comedy films Films shot in Chennai Films shot in Thailand 2010s Tamil-language films 2018 romantic comedy films Tamil remakes of Telugu films Films scored by Balamurali Balu