Thalapathi rerelease in 4K for Rajinikanth’s 74th birthday!
Thalapathi rerelease in 4K for Rajinikanth’s 74th birthday!
A gangster drama written and directed by Mani Ratnam, Thalapathi (1991) starring Superstar Rajinikanth in the lead is one of those cult classics, that forever has fans in the Tamil cine audience. A 4K remastered version of Thalapathi is all set for a re-release in theaters, marking the 74th birthday of actor Rajinikanth. Thalapathi’s re-release date is December 12, 2024 (Thursday).
Thalapathi also stars Mammootty, Arvind Swamy, Jaishankar (late), Amrish Puri (late), Sri Divya (late), Bhanu Priya, Shobana, Geetha, Nagesh (late), Charuhasan (Mani Ratnam’s father-in-law) among others. The movie has music by Ilaiyaraaja, cinematography by Santhosh Sivan, and edits by Gautham Raju, Suresh Urs.
A modern day adaptation of the Indian mythology Mahabharata, Thalapathi depicts the friendship of Karna and Duryodhana and the events surrounding them. Surya (Rajinikanth) an orphan from the slum is a fearless lad, who befriends the local don Deva (Mammotty). How they face the attempts of the district collector Arjun (Arvind Swami) to thwart them, who also happens to be Surya’s half-brother is what forms the rest of the story.
The re-release, which is a popular trend in South India, offers moviegoers a chance to relive this Mani Ratnam-Rajinikanth classic, and for the new audience to catch it on the big screen. SSI Production is re-releasing Thalapathi in Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
Thalapathi is a production venture of GV Films, a banner founded and run by Mani Ratnam’s late brother, G. Venkateswaran at the time of the film’s release. Currently Tamil producer Ishari K Ganesh heads the studio. It is worth mentioning here that the master reels of the Thalapathi movie are with the Film Heritage Foundation, who have been working alongside Chennai’s Prasad Studios since 2021 in digitizing them into 8K. It remains unclear if Thalapathi‘s 4K version is a conversion of these original reels.
