Blessed to have directed dad once: Soundarya Rajinikanth

Filmmaker Soundarya Rajinikanth says she is not sure if she will work with her father superstar Rajinikanth once again, but she considers herself extremely blessed to have directed him in her film "Kochadaiiyaan".

Soundarya made her directorial debut with "Kochadaiiyaan", a motion-capture animated film, in 2014.

"I consider myself blessed to have directed him once. How many people would get the opportunity to say camera, action and cut to him? Working with him once will be a life-long memory," Soundarya told IANS in an interview.

Even though she doesn't deny the possibility of working with her father again, she clarified nothing is planned as of now.

"Dad wants me to write my next film. The two films I have directed so far were written by someone else. He is encouraging me to write. I'm working on a couple of ideas but haven't quite started writing yet," she said.

Soundarya is basking in the success of "VIP 2", which stars her brother-in-law Dhanush.

"A sequel comes with a lot of responsibility. The comparison with the first part was inevitable but what worried us the most was that the film could bring extreme reactions -- positive or negative. Luckily, we received mostly positive feedback," she said, extending gratitude to Dhanush for the faith he had in her.

Asked if she was intimated to work with two big stars in succession, she said: "They were not strangers to me. However, I was quite aware of their star image and respected that when I worked with them. But I was never intimated."

She said she enjoyed working with the bigger stars because, "It gave me the opportunity to learn. Not just with dad and Dhanush, but I also got to learn from Jackie (Shroff) uncle and Shobana ma'am when I worked with them in aKochadaiiyaan'."

Did she find it challenging to make a live-action film ("VIP 2") after "Kochadaiiyaan"?

"Honestly, preparation-wise we worked harder for 'Kochadaiiyaan' because we were dealing with a new technology. We had to understand it first and then start working on it. 'VIP 2' was much easier to shoot because I have seen the atmosphere of the regular shoot when I visited dad's film set as a kid," she said, heaping praise on her team for their constant support.

Soundarya is thrilled about her father's "Kaala", which is being produced by Dhanush.

"It feels special that 'Kaala' is being produced by Dhanush sir. He started Wunderbar Films to produce short films and web series. Today, to see his company bankrolling 'Kaala' means something for all of us. Just like appa's fans, we are all waiting for the film," she said.

(Haricharan Pudipeddi can be contacted at [email protected])

--IANS

hp/rb/vm