Digitally enhanced Rajinikanth starrer Baba set to hit screens

Superstar Rajinikanth’s Baba is set to re-release in theatres after undergoing major digital enhancements. “Every frame has been digitally enhanced with state-of-the-art colour grading,” said a source close to the producers working on the re-release. It’s unclear whether Rajinikanth’s production house is directly involved in the re-release efforts.

The 2002 film was directed by Suresh Krissna, who before Baba worked with Rajinikanth in blockbuster movies like Annamalai, Veera and Baashaa. The film told the tale of a reincarnation of a yogi who couldn’t attain his full spiritual potential in his previous life as his heart still craved for pleasures of the materialistic world. That yogi is reborn again to fulfil his destiny. Besides Rajinikanth, the film starred Manisha Koirala as the female lead. Actors Goundamani, Delhi Ganesh, Sujatha, MN Nambiar Ashish Vidyarthi, Sayaji Shinde, Sangavi and Karunaas formed the supporting cast. The film had music from Oscar-winner AR Rahman.

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Baba was close to Rajinikanth’s heart. Besides playing the lead role, he wrote the story, screenplay and produced it. The film was released to packed houses at the time. However, it didn’t meet the expectations of the audience. And the film turned out to be one of the biggest commercial failures of Rajinikanth’s enviable career.

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Following its poor performance at the box office, Rajinikanth, in an unprecedented gesture, took ownership of the failure and compensated for the losses incurred by the film’s distributors. Rajinikanth also took a break from acting to reassess his career as the taste of the movie-going audience seemed to be fast evolving in the new millennium. After three years, Rajinikanth re-launched his career with the 2005 horror-comedy Chandramukhi. The film became a smash hit at the box office and he followed it with bigger blockbusters like Sivaji, Endhiran, Kabali and 2.0.

Rajinikanth is now busy shooting for Nelson Dilipkumar’s Jailer.