‘Annamalai’ re-release: Director Suresh Krissna on the 1992 Rajinikanth superhit and the fan moment he’ll never forget

Suresh Krissna’s happiest moment as a director arrived near the steps of Maris Theatre in Trichy. “Nobody knew me. I had done Kamal Haasan’s Sathya and a couple of Telugu films, but here I was, watching my film, Annamalai, starring Rajinikanth, with audiences,” recalls the Tamil filmmaker, about that day in June, 1992.

That was the third day post release – the film was already declared a hit – when someone in the audience recognised Suresh as the director of the film. “A huge crowd gathered outside. They carried me, from the steps of the theatre to my car. They were overjoyed that I had made such a wholesome film with their Thalaivar. I could feel the genuine outpouring of excitement and love that day.”

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 28/11/2025: Tamil film director Suresh Krissna, famous for films like ‘Annamalai’ and ‘Baasha’, revisits his association with Rajinikanth and talks about the re-release of ‘Annamalai’
| Photo Credit:
shivaraj s

The Tamil director, who is known for his four films with Rajinikanth (Annamalai, Veera, Baasha and Baba) and two with Kamal Haasan (Sathya and Aalavandan), is as excited today as he was on that memorable day 33 years ago. That is because Annamalai, his first film with Rajinikanth, which would go on to sow the seeds of a successful collaboration, is re-releasing on December 12, 2025, coinciding with Superstar Rajinikanth’s birthday.

Not many might be aware that there was an informal ban on posters promoting this film back in 1992, due to differences of opinion between Rajinikanth and the then Tamil Nadu government. This meant that not many people, including hardcore fans, were aware of the arrival of such a film. “But that did not seem to matter,” opines Suresh, “They celebrated the film as if it were their own. The fact that friendship, revenge, love and fights were part of the package appealed to them.”

Milking the friendship angle

Annamalai, a film based on the friendship between a poor milkman (Rajinikanth) and a rich hotelier (Sarath Babu), will be remembered for many things: its title card music, introduction song, Deva’s tracks and punch dialogues. Based on the 1987 Hindi film Khudgarz, which itself was inspired by Jeffrey Archer’s classic book Kane and Abel, Annamalai was a superhit and is widely considered as among the actor’s best films.

So, how did Suresh crack the friendship angle and tailor-make it to suit Tamil audiences? “Someone else was supposed to direct the film, and that did not work out…hence, I walked into this project 48 hours before the shoot. There was absolutely no script. Though it was based on a Hindi film, we had to change the whole storyline to suit Rajinikanth’s persona. We completely went with the flow, sometimes without even knowing what scene would be canned the next day, but we were always alert.”

With its re-release and Rajinikanth completing 50 years in cinema, Suresh hopes that the celebrations will continue in the theatres. “So many people still share memes with Annamalai’s escalator scene,” smiles Suresh, “I know many people who still have the ‘Vetri Nichayam’ motivational track as their mobile phone ringtone. People who watch it today will revisit those times when cinema was all about fun and entertainment, and the youngsters who watch it might think, ‘Yes man, they did good cinema back then,’” he says, as a closing statement, much like Rajinikanth’s iconic punch dialogue, ‘Naan oru thadavai sonna, nooru thadavai sonna madhiri’ (”If I tell something once, it’s like I’ve said it a hundred times”.)

Published – December 07, 2025 06:39 pm IST