 | This articlecontains one or more duplicated citations. The reason given is: DuplicateReferences script detected: It is recommended to usenamed references to consolidate citations that are used multiple times.(January 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| Sivaji: The Boss | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Shankar |
| Screenplay by | Shankar |
| Dialogues by | |
| Story by | Shankar |
| Produced by | M. S. Guhan M. Saravanan |
| Starring | Rajinikanth Shriya Saran Vivek Suman |
| Cinematography | K. V. Anand |
| Edited by | Anthony |
| Music by | A. R. Rahman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | AVM Productions |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 188 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹60 crore[a] |
| Box office | ₹150 crore[4][5][6][7] |
Sivaji: The Boss is a 2007 IndianTamil-languagevigilanteaction film directed byShankar and produced byAVM Productions. The film starsRajinikanth,Shriya Saran,Vivek andSuman. In the film, a software systems architect seeks to provide free medical treatment and education but faces hurdles from the political system and an influential businessman.
A. R. Rahman composed the music in his 100th milestone composition, while the art direction, cinematography and editing were handled byThota Tharani,K. V. Anand andAnthony respectively. With a budget of₹600 million (US$7.1 million), the film was themost expensive Indian film at the time of its release. Rajinikanth became the highest-paid Indian actor with this film, earning a fee of around₹260 million (US$3.1 million). Pre-production work for Sivaji began in August 2005 andPrincipal photography of the film commenced in November 2005 and lasted till February 2007. Filming took place in various locations, includingHyderabad,Spain,Italy,New York City,Pune andChennai. It became the first Indian film to useDolby Atmos surround sound technology.
Released on 15 June 2007,Sivaji received positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success by grossing ₹125-160 crore worldwide. It emerged as one of thehighest-grossing Indian films at its release. The film won aNational Film Award, threeFilmfare Awards and twoVijay Awards. The film was converted into3D and released on 12 December 2012 asSivaji 3D. The runtime of the 3D version was shorter than the original, cut to 155 minutes. It also the first Tamil film to enter the100 crore club.[8][9][10]
Sivaji Arumugam is a wealthy Indian software engineer who returns to India after working in the United States. He aims to establish anon-profit trust called Sivaji Foundation, which includes a network of hospitals and educational institutions that serve the poor free of charge. A highly influential businessman and political lobbyist, Adiseshan, who runs profit-making educational institutions and hospitals, sees Sivaji as a deadly competitor.
To start his foundation, Sivaji is forced to pay bribes to several government officials to obtain the basic approvals and sanctions. This eventually forces him to mortgage his property and sell his belongings to pay out the bribes. Meanwhile, Sivaji falls in love with Tamizhselvi, a demure and traditional girl who works as a saleswoman at a music shop. Tamizhselvi and her family are initially scared of Sivaji's advances, but he soon manages to win Tamizhselvi's heart and her family's approval. However, when an astrologer checks Sivaji's and Tamizhselvi's horoscopes, he warns that their engagement will lead to heavy financial ruin and their union will result in Sivaji's death. Tamizhselvi initially refuses the proposal due to her concern for Sivaji, but he calms her fears and convinces her to marry him.
Adiseshan starts sabotaging Sivaji by influencing the state government to bring Sivaji to court and force him to admit that he paid numerous bribes. The judge declares the verdict against Sivaji, and his foundation is closed. Sivaji, reduced to poverty, decides to play the game his own way. With the help of his uncle, Arivu, Sivaji acquires evidence of₹2 billion worth of illegal earnings of Adiseshan and uses it to blackmail him into giving Sivaji half the money. Adiseshan sends goons to retrieve the documents and the money, but Sivaji thrashes them but later he brings them under his wing in return for a better life for their families via his foundation. Sivaji proceeds to acquire evidence of other politicians and influential people with illegal cash, including the officers he bribed. He then transfers the money to his friends worldwide. They then deposit the money as donations to the Sivaji Foundation, making it legitimate. Sivaji informs theIncome Tax Department about illegal money held by the tax evaders, including Adiseshan, and gets them arrested. After this, Sivaji marries Tamizhselvi.
Sivaji blackmails the chief minister, who was on Adiseshan's payroll, and legally reopens his foundation. Adiseshan, out on bail, indirectly exploits Tamizhselvi's innocence though CBI officers hired by him, and she gives up Sivaji's laptop to save his life. Sivaji is arrested with presentable evidence.[b] Adiseshan and the police try to unlock his computer through voice recognition but cannot do so without him. Sivaji refuses and Adiseshan tortures him to the point of death. To cover this up, Adiseshan and the police organize mercenaries to shoot at the police van carrying Sivaji's body, making it look like a murder by a third party. However, Sivaji fakes his death after being informed of the plans to kill him by a sympathetic police constable through an MMS before the interrogation. Left alone in the room, he electrifies himself and loses consciousness. Dr. Chezhian who Sivaji's friend and the dean of Sivaji's medical school, Tamizhselvi, and Arivu intercept the police van and replace his body with a dummy before the mercenaries open fire. Chezhian then revives him using adefibrillator.
Following Sivaji's "death", the CBI tries to open Sivaji's laptop, but fails, and all the data is erased. A few days later, the revived Sivaji returns to take control of the foundation, disguised as anNRI friend, M. G. Ravichandran. Though Adiseshan immediately realizes that "Ravichandran" is Sivaji, he cannot prove it. Later, Sivaji confronts Adiseshan at his college, and the two fight. Sivaji breaks open the terrace containing all of Adiseshan's black money, which flies out onto the campus, attracting students who come running out, resulting in a stampede in which Adiseshan is trampled to death. Sivaji Foundation soon becomes a frontier for India's economic and industrial rise.
In 1996, following the release of hisIndian,Shankar approached and pitched three storylines toRajinikanth to consider for his next venture. This included scripts which would later becomeSivaji (2007),Enthiran (2010) andI (2015). Rajinikanth was sceptical and refused all three scripts at the time.[17]
In August 2005, Rajinikanth signed up for his next film which was to be produced byChennai's oldest operative studio,AVM Productions, which was run byM. S. Guhan andM. Saravanan.[18][19] This time Shankar was confirmed to be the film's director.[18] After consultingSivaji Ganesan's family to avoid any issues with the film's name, the project was subsequently announced on 24 August 2005 under the titleSivaji.[20] A tagline,The Boss, which stands for "Bachelor of Social Service", was suffixed to the title.[21]
In addition to being AVM Productions' 168th film,[22]Sivaji was also Rajinikanth's 154th film,[18] his 100th Tamil film[c] and his ninth film with AVM Productions.[18] According to Rajinikanth's biographerNaman Ramachandran, the film was also made to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of the production company's founder,A. V. Meiyappan.[24]Sivaji was also noted for its change in the traditional yellow-coloured Rajinikanth introductory text which made its debut withAnnaamalai (1992). Instead the text is displayed inChrome.[25]
The first choice for the role of the female lead wasAishwarya Rai.[26] However, in October 2005, Shankar and Rajinikanth announced that actressShriya Saran would play the female lead role.[27] Saran's voice was dubbed by actressKanika, who was selected after a successful voice test,[28] thereby collaborating for the second time with Shankar.[d] ActorVivek was signed up for the role of Sivaji's maternal uncle, Arivu, in November 2005.[29] ActressSunaina was to have made her acting debut through this film; her scene however was removed from the final cut.[30][31]Nayanthara, who had earlier worked with Rajinikanth inChandramukhi, was signed up to perform a special appearance alongside Rajinikanth in the song "Baleilakka".[32][33]
Suman was confirmed in March 2006 to play the role of Adiseshan afterAmitabh Bachchan,Mohanlal andPrakash Raj were considered.[34]Sathyaraj, who acted with Rajinikanth inMr. Bharath (1986), said he declined the role because, "After a film of the calibre ofMr. Bharath with Rajnikanth, I couldn't settle for anything less".[35] In another interview, he said he wanted to focus on playing lead roles and hence declined to play an antagonist.[36] Mohanlal said he declined as he could not commit to the project for an entire year without missing out on other projects.[37] For his role, Suman removed his moustache and useddentures to make his smile visible. Shankar instructed one of the costume designers to give the character a spotless whitedhoti, shirt, shoes, aRolex watch andRay-Ban sunglasses.[38] Before this, Suman had acted with Rajinikanth inThee (1981).[39]Subbu Panchu dubbed for Suman.[40] Debate speakersSolomon Pappaiah andPattimandram Raja were selected to play supporting roles, with the latter making his cinematic acting debut.[41][42]Vadivukkarasi andManivannan were selected to play Sivaji's parents.[43][44]Raghuvaran appeared in a small role as Dr. Chezhian.[12]
Shankar, who also wrote the film's story and screenplay,[45] was paid a then record salary of₹100 million (Indian rupees)[e] for the project.[47]A. R. Rahman, who was selected to compose the film's soundtrack and background score, was also paid₹30 million.[48][e]Sujatha was assigned to write the dialogues forSivaji.[45] Tha. Prabhu Raja Cholan, who would later direct the filmKaruppampatti (2013), worked as an assistant director in this film.[49] Rajinikanth's daughterSoundarya worked as a graphics designer, creating the title for this film; she had earlier worked in the same position on two of her father's films –Baba (2002) andChandramukhi (2005).[50]K. V. Anand was hired as the cinematographer in August 2005.[51]Manish Malhotra was responsible for designing the film's costumes,[52] whileAnthony andThota Tharani were the editor and art director respectively.[45] Additional make-up for Rajinikanth was done by make-up artistBanu.[53] DirectorS. P. Muthuraman worked as the film's co-producer.[54][55]
Principal photography commenced on 28 November 2005 with apuja at AVM Productions. The film's launch was a secret event, with only pivotal members of the cast and crew being called for the event's attendance.[29] The first schedule ofSivaji began on 14 December 2005 with the song "Vaaji Vaaji" featuring Rajinikanth and Saran being shot atRamoji Film City inHyderabad.[56][57] The idea of shooting at Ramoji Film City was suggested to Shankar by Tharani who felt that the place offered a lot of scope for him to use his skills and experience as an art director.[57] "Vaaji Vaaji" was picturised with an intention to showcase aBabylonian palace setting when Shankar requested Tharani to show "a palace with lots of colour".[57] Tharani created a four-storey Babylonian palace to accommodate 80 dancers and 100 junior artists for the number.[58] The set was built within 30 days.[59] Shooting of the number, which according to K. V. Anand was filmed inSuper 35 motion picturefilm format, was completed in eight days.[60]G. Dhananjayan mentions in his bookThe Best of Tamil Cinema that₹35 million[e] was spent on the song's making.[61]
I decided to have a glass dome depicting four seasons. But Shankar was specific, saying he wanted the desert and the flowers look. So, we decided to have desert on one side and rocks, waterfalls and flowers on the other.
Tharani described the set designing for the song "Sahana", which was also shot at Ramoji Film City, as "extremely challenging".[62] After listening to the lyrics of the song which speaks of the four traditionalcalendar seasons, Tharani thought of using a concept titledLiving in Seasons, which he used at asymposium held in Japan.[f] For the set's design which depicted the four seasons, Tharani proposed three concepts – a traditional Japanese house, a contemporary house and a futuristic house. Shankar chose the futuristic house concept, which consisted of three domes in the shapes of a square, a circle and a pyramid adjacent to one another.[62] The circular dome had a pathway around it and water falling from a 50 feet high rock, which would seep under the set. Tharani made use ofacrylic glass andnormal glass with the former being implemented on the floor to make the dance movements more easier to perform.[59] Construction of the set for the number was completed in 30 days.[64]
In addition to these two songs, Tharani contributed to similar creations for the music store where Tamizhselvi works as a saleswoman, the street surrounding the music store, thewarehouse behind the music store, the interior portions of Thamizhselvi's house and Adiseshan's office room.[63] The music shop was designed in theVictorian architecture style, while the warehouse was constructed at AVM Productions with the fight sequence being filmed there as well.[65] Filming of another action sequence in an open-air theatre, which was also designed by Tharani, took place for approximately 15–20 days.[66] K. V. Anand usedballoon lights brought from a French companyAirstar Space Lighting for the sequence.[66][67] The interior portions of Thamizhselvi's house was designed using clippings of flats constructed by theTamil Nadu Housing Board.[68]
The "Style" segment was filmed in May 2006 at theFrank Gehry-designedGuggenheim Museum inBilbao, Spain,[3][69] as well as theCity of Arts and Sciences of Valencia[70] and theKursaal in San Sebastian.[71]
The fair look of Rajinikanth's character in the segment was created usingcomputer-generated imagery, which was performed byV. Srinivas Mohan, the head of the Chennai-based firm Indian Artists. K. V. Anand re-shot every single movement of Rajinikanth with a British woman named Jacky, who was also one of the song's background dancers. All the shots featuring Rajinikanth in the song and those featuring Jacky were scanned in4K resolution to enhance their clarity after which Jacky's skin colour was digitally implemented onto Rajinikanth's skin.[72] In a scene, Rajinikanth and Shriya Saran imitated the dance from songs from three Tamil films starringSivaji Ganesan,MGR andKamal Haasan, respectively.[73] For the Telugu dubbed version, the scene instead featured songs from films starringANR,NTR andChiranjeevi, respectively.[74][75] French hair-stylist Sandrin Veriar Seth designed two distinct hair-styles for the entire film and 13 hair-styles for the segment alone.[76] To avoid disruptions that could occur at the shooting spot due to Rajinikanth's fan following inTamil Nadu,Brinda choreographed "Balleilakka", Rajinikanth's introduction song sequence inWai, ahill station nearPune with 500 people for eight days.[33] To add more colour to the sequence, a 50-member team ofPuli Kali artists fromThrissur were employed by Shankar as background dancers.[77]
In November 2006, sequences featuring Rajinkanth, Saran and Vivek were shot at thePune Junction railway station.[citation needed] Filming of a key portion involving Rajinikanth and Vivek took place in theVictoria Public Hall building inChennai.[78][79] A fight sequence and the song "Athiradi" were filmed atBinny Mills. The sets for the song were made bearing resemblance to the city ofVenice.[citation needed] For the climax scenes, which were filmed at theMagarpatta city SEZ towers, Rajinikanth tonsured his head.[80] The scenes where Sivaji gets the money he transferred to his friends by forgery were filmed in New York City.[81] The completion of those scenes in February 2007 marked the end of the principal photography.[82] The climactic fight between Sivaji and Adiseshan was filmed atVels University.[83] K. V. Anand toldShobha Warrier ofRediff.com that the portions other than the songs and action sequences were completed in 65 days.[84]
Many critics stated that the theme ofSivaji has been inspired from Shankar's previous filmsGentleman (1993) andMudhalvan (1999).[85] The film deals with the concept of corruption and money laundering and how the film's protagonist employs methods to get rid of those elements.[citation needed] Gopinath Rajendran ofThe New Indian Express compared the film's title character toRobin Hood for being a hero "who takes from the rich and passes it on to the poor".[86]
Sivaji, who is a software engineer is frustrated with the corruption in India which is shown in the scene where he watches the pitiable condition of poor people stating that: "The rich get richer, the poor get poorer".[87] Sivaji's love for his country is also illustrated in a scene where he is advised by his uncle to go back to abroad but he says "Where else will I go? This is home."[88]
After some re-recording of the background score in Paraguay,[89]A.R. Rahman had been to London for additional re-recording.[89]
A month and a half prior to the film's official soundtrack release, three songs from the soundtrack were leaked into the Internet. The songs, however, were only unofficial with low quality, where the official versions were composed slightly different and sung by different artists.[citation needed]
The television rights of the film were sold toKalaignar TV for₹4 crore.[90] The film's distribution rights, as distributed byAVM Productions to various companies are₹35 million (US$410,000) for the selling of rights toKerala,₹140 million (US$1.7 million) forAndhra Pradesh and₹139.5 million (US$1.7 million) for the rights toAyngaran, an international Tamil film distributor. The trailer was released byCNN-IBN on 30 May 2007 lasting for three minutes.[91] The official trailer was released by AVM toGalatta.com, the official online sponsor andAyngaran International.[92] The film was supposed to be released on theTamil New Year's day, 14 April 2007,[22][93][94] but due to post-production delays, the film was released worldwide on 15 June 2007.[95][96] On 15 July 2007, AVM Productions, the producers of the film, announced their decision todub the film intoHindi.[97][98] That version was released on 8 January 2010.[96]
M. Satyamoorthy, on 9 July 2007, sought to stop the film being screened, claiming that it defamed theIndian National Congress, a political party, as well as its president,Sonia Gandhi, and the thenPrime Minister of India,Manmohan Singh. Satyamoorthy cited a scene in which portraits of Gandhi and Singh are visible behind Adiseshan's chair, implying that Adiseshan was a member of the Indian National Congress.[99] Satyamoorthy also claimed₹500 million (US$5.9 million) in damages from the film's producer, director and lead actor to be paid to theTamil Nadu section of the party.[100] Jaya Rajadevan, one of the film's assistant directors, sought aninjunction in civil court to stop screening of the film for alleged plagiarism. Rajadevan claimed that he had written the film's story and had discussed it with Shankar's manager in 2005.[101] Although the court sent notices to Shankar, among others, the screening of the film was not stopped.[102]
Rajinikanth used his political affiliations to screen the film for several politicians. He went toHyderabad to showcase the film for the formerAndhra PradeshChief Minister,Chandrababu Naidu, on 14 June 2007.[103] At the screening, Rajinikanth told the media that he would invite the Chief Minister,Rajasekhara Reddy, for a special viewing as well. Rajinikanth said that he had screened the film to current and formerTamil Nadu Chief Ministers, Dr.Karunanidhi[104] andJayalalitha,[105] respectively, and that India'sFinance Minister,P Chidambaram, was also keen to watch the film.[104] A private screening was also shown toAmitabh Bachchan.[106]Mammootty saw a special preview of the film at Shenoys theatre inErnakulam. After the screening he says, "It is a very good commercial film. Rajnikant has a halo around him; the man is amazing, simple and straight forward with no starry airs."[107]
A 2012 re-release, also known asSivaji 3D, was created byre-mastering the original toDolby Atmos andpost-converting to3D format and cutting half an hour of running time.[108]Sivaji 3D is the first Indian film to be launched with the new Dolby Atmos platform.[101][109] The trailer of 3D version was launched on 13 August 2012 atPrasad Labs along with Rajinikanth.[110] The 3D version released on 12 December 2012, coinciding with Rajinikanth's birthday.[101][111] The runtime of 3D version was shorter than original, cut to 155.22 minutes.[112]
The theatrical rights of the film were sold for₹26 million (US$310,000)[113] in Kerala and₹80 million (US$950,000) in Andhra Pradesh. Worldwide, the film was estimated to have been released in about 750 screens.[23] The film opened to virtually full cinemas.[114]Sivaji was released in 303 screens in Tamil Nadu, 300 screens in Andhra Pradesh; 12 screens in North India and 145 screens across the rest of the world.[23][115] It was released in 16 screens inChennai and grossed₹1.35 crore (US$160,000) within the first four days, at that point a new record forTamil cinema. The film also debuted well inKerala and inBangalore. Despite protests from pro-Kannada groups, the film debuted in 13 screens.[116] In the national capital, New Delhi, the film debuted on 4 screens inPVR Cinemas.[117] Based on what the distributors claim, there was "overwhelming response to the film", with the number of screens increasing to 12 by the second week.[118] The film made a good debut in the nation's other metros as well such asMumbai[116] andKolkata,[119] as well as in other non-traditional markets for Tamil films such as Pune[120] and Baroda.[121] The film grossed₹ 4.07 crore[citation needed] in two weeks;₹ 8.5 crore in five weeks,[122] and₹ 10 crore in seven weeks in Chennai.[citation needed]
Sivaji was also successful in international markets. The film had a wide release with over 145 prints and in 200 theatres (Tamil Version alone) in over 20 countries across South East Asia, Europe, North America, GCC and Australia and others, one of the widest release for an Indian film in the international markets. Internationally,Sivaji had good screenings in Malaysia.[123][124] grossing over US$2 million in Malaysia,[125]Sivaji made a debut with 150 shows in Singapore.[126] In Sri Lanka, the film debuted across 70 screens with all 700 shows virtually sold out.[127] In thePersian Gulf that contains a sizeably large Indian diaspora, the film opened to a good response.[128] The film has collected over $8.5 Million from the overseas markets.
In Canada, the film released in 10 screens in 3 major cities along with special screenings for the Tamil diaspora in the smaller cities.[citation needed] In United Kingdom, the film debuted on the box-office list at No.9 with earnings of about £14,000 per screen and was the first Tamil film to enter UK Top 10. In United States,Sivaji was released in 24 screens with subsequent additions of 19 screens for the Tamil version.[129] The producers of the film claimed that the film was going to be dubbed in Chinese and Japanese byAyngaran International, the holder of international rights of the film.[97] The response inCape Town was disappointing, while the box-office collections inJohannesburg and Durban allowed it to become the first Tamil film to feature in the South African box-office top 10.[130]Singapore Airlines bought a 3-month exclusive in-flight screening rights to the film, a first for the airline for any Tamil film.[131]
In the UK, 13 seconds of the film was cut.[132] The original film showed Rajinikanth throwing a firecracker into his mouth, lighting it and then spitting it out at Pattimanram Raja, which was removed to give the film a 12A rating, The Ayngaran UK DVD release was uncut and given an 18 rating by theBBFC. It was also the first Tamil film to be officially released on a1080p High DefinitionBlu-ray disc.[133] In addition, the 3D re-release (which was already shortened by half-an-hour) was cut further to remove scenes of bloody injury and violence in 2 scenes to get a 12A rating.
The worldwide box office collection ofSivaji was ₹100—160 crore. The overseas distributor Ayngaran International reported collections as follows: US$2,000,000, Canada $500,000, UK$750,000, Europe and Gulf $750,000, Malaysia $2,000,000, Singapore $750,000, Sri Lanka $1,250,000, Australia, New Zealand & Thailand $250,000.[citation needed]Sivaji was released in South Africa in late July 2007 after six weeks of its release by the leading South African distributor Ster Kinekor with four prints and released in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.[134][135]
Sivaji was the first Tamil film to enter the100 crore club. It was also the first South Indian film to achieve this feat. Additionally,Sivaji was the first Indian film to gross ₹150 crore worldwide and became the highest-grossing Indian film at the time of its release.[136][137][138][139]
Sivaji: The Boss completed its 50-day theatrical run in nearly 800 theatres worldwide. This movie ran for 100 days in over 100 theatres in India and abroad, completing its centenary run in approximately 111 theatres across regions including Tamil Nadu and overseas markets and completed 175 days in a few theatres.[140][141][142]
Sivaji: The Boss is regarded as a pioneer of the modern wide-release strategy in Tamil Nadu, having been released simultaneously in a record number of theatres across the state to maximise early theatrical attendance and limit the impact of piracy.[143]
Sivaji: The Boss received positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 269 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10.
Malathi Rangarajan ofThe Hindu, in a review about the story, said that the lead character carrying out a rebellion against corruption was something "not be true to life". She concluded by saying that "the story sags towards the end". She, however, appreciated the performances of the prominent actors, the soundtrack, art direction, photography and the animation.[144] Ananth Krishnan, another review fromThe Hindu, a month after the film's release, said that the film "... presents an effective diagnosis of entrenched corruption but the rather disturbing remedy it offers is, good old vigilantism." It concluded by saying that, though the film did well at the box-office, the message of rejecting the corrupt system instead of reforming it was troubling.[145]
T. S. V. Hari ofHindustan Times said that the director, Shankar, was not creative enough for the film and added this by saying "Sivaji turns out to be a rehash of all his previous jingoistic claptrap efforts". It appreciated the other technical departments and suggested a good response at the box office.[146]The Times of India had a similar review about the story saying that "it had nothing new to offer" but promised it to be entertaining and gave it four stars.[73] Nidarsana ofKalki praised the performances of Rajini, Vivek, Shriya and Suman, Vivek's humour while also praising Tharani's art direction, Anand's cinematography and Sujatha's dialogues but felt Shankar compromised a lot for Rajinikanth as the subject of black money is dealt just like that and due to story taking a backseat with Rajini taking the forefront,Sivaji feels deserted without Shankar's signature yet Shankar is on par with himself for portraying Rajini as larger than life.[147]
R. G. Vijayasarathy ofRediff.com summed the film by saying, "No logic, only Rajni's magic". About the story, he said, "Unfortunately, (the) message is lost in the maze of illogical and sometimes absurd sequences". The review, however, praised the performances of Rajinikanth, Shriya and Vivek and the technical crew.[148]Sify wrote: "There is only one hero here, [..] – Rajni himself. Such is the overpowering screen presence of his cinematic charisma in every frame of the film. The film works big time as Shankar has made the film on a grand scale, [..] which is a visual treat with superbly choreographed action scenes. All this comes with top-of-the-line techno-finesse, perhaps the best ever in Tamil cinema" and also wrote that "Technically, [..] a revelation [..] there are stunning visuals, which is paisa vasool. K.V.Anand's cinematography is top class. Art director Thotta Tharani work is enticing, especially the sets in songs".[85]Ananda Vikatan rated the film 41 out of 100.[149]
2007Tamil Nadu State Film Awards[152]
Brahmanandam,Sunil,M. S. Bhaskar,Komal andRangayana Raghu spoofed the character M. G. Ravichandran inLakshmi Putrudu (2008),[153]Kantri (2008),[citation needed]Maasilamani (2009),[citation needed]Thipparalli Tharlegalu (2010),[154] andRama Rama Raghurama (2011), respectively.[155]
buyers lost nearly₹ 40 million by procuring Sivaji for₹ 160 million, as it failed to impress beyond the Nizam region
