latha Rajinikanth chats with D Kaushik about being an emotional support to Saundarya, assisting on Kochadaiiyaan and religiously watching her husband’s movies first day first show with his fans
To every question related to her daughter, she smiled like any proud parent would while talking about her child’s accomplishment. latha Rajinikanth has been a motivation and inspiration behind everything that her daughters attempted. So when her younger one, Saundarya, shared with her the desire to make a graphic film with her father Rajinikanth, she not only encouraged her but also assisted her in the process of filmmaking. Saundarya’s dream project materialised as Kochadaiiyaan, where for the first time photo realistic motion capturing technology has been used. “It is for the first time that such a technology has been brought to India and live actors are brought into this format. From childhood it has been Saundarya’s vision to graphically present her father and she wanted to make her directorial debut with one such film. So this film was conceived by her and the concept demanded the use of such technology. To shoot her iconic father, known widely for his great work, for the first time and to also experiment with new technology was a risk and challenge. I am proud that Saundarya decided to make such a film and take a challenge. As a mother my responsibility has been to give her moral boost and emotional support throughout. I am behind Saundarya in all that she does. Because Kochadaiiyaan is first-of-its-kind technology film and I am into education, the project started with lot of research and development. I helped my daughter with that. Saundarya is a strong creative person and very good visualiser. So more than my creative inputs she needed moral support. Also, when you have a father with iconic status, who is a respectable figure in public eye, you have to meet a lot of expectations. That pressure has always been on actors’ children entering into the industry and even Saundarya is facing that. All I can do is support her and help her deal with any hurdles that she faces,” said latha, who was here recently to talk about Saundarya’s debut film.
Kochadaiiyaan is Saundarya’s tribute to 100 years of cinema and her father’s career. “When she started taking the idea of the film forward she knew that we are touching 100 years of cinema. She thought it will be a perfect to introduce something new, that may mark the beginning of new trend in our industry. Our film industry is huge now and we are ready to embrace technology from all over the world to make our films better. Use of technology would also result in development of skills and opportunities in our industry,” added latha.
Besides being a wife of a superstar, latha is known for her passion for music and educating children. Music has always been an inherent part of her life since childhood. She has sung a Tamil and Telugu version of a song for Kochadaiiyaan as well. “It was AR Rehman and Saundarya’s decision that I should do a song as it was ideal for me. I have been singing since I was in school. I participated in many competitions and cultural programmes. later I released my private album and also sung for films. But then I got busy with my personal life. I was raising my daughters and trying to come up with an academic system, so I was not singing professionally. But personally singing has always been a part of my life,” she said.
Teaching children has always been latha’s primary interest. “I have been passionate about right upbringing and education of children. At some point I wanted to start my own school and system of education to build up an overall personality of children. We hope to expand this philosophy with our schools to the rest of Tamil Nadu and take it forward from there. Education is a big passion, I teach children and it is a wonderful feeling to bring up a lot of them,” she said.
Rajininkanth has never missed an opportunity to praise his wife for her contribution in making him whatever he is today. latha feels proud to be part of a family where each member is skilled and talented in one or the other way. Apart from his work, she respects her husband for his humble attitude. “He has no two sides to him,” she said. It is famous about latha that she watches her husband’s every film with his fans, first day first show. “We feel blessed to be bestowed with so much love and respect from people. I feel the best way to share the love that they extend to us is by being with them. It gives me pleasure to share their joy,” she ended.