Dad did Kochadaiiyaan not because I am his daughter: Soundarya

Filmmaker Soundarya, who is making her directorial debut with Rajnikanth-starrer 'Kochadaiiyaan' says her father agreed to be part of this mega project for the script and not because she was his daughter.
"Once he was convinced about the script and that it requires a certain kind of technology then only he said yes. Because the kind of action sequences you will see in 'Kochadaiiyaan', it is not possible in live action or in visual effects to get this kind of impact.
"Only after he was convinced about this technology he agreed to do the film and not because I was his daughter. That did not even make a difference. I was confident of handling the project and my father said ok go ahead," Soundarya said in an interview here.

The director says that she felt blessed to work with Rajinikanth, 63, in her debut film. Soundarya added that when the project happened he agreed to do the film not like a doting father but took a professional approach.
"This is a performance capture photo realistic film. It is a first attempt here (in India) but it is very famous abroad (Hollywood). Usually, films like this take approximately five to six years but we have been over ambitious and god has been kind and it took less than two years to make this film.
"It is a commercial film and the technology is new but the story is what a Rajinikanth story should be like. It is commercially packed film with technology that is used for the first time in our films," Soundarya said.

She says it was not deliberate on her part to cast her father in her debut film.
"We started 'Rana' and my father unfortunately fell ill and then he got better. And when he came back (to do films) we did not want him to do undergo much physical strain because 'Rana' is a period film and 'Kochadaiiyaan' is a prequel to 'Rana'.. Kochadaiiyaan is Rana's father. We wrote the story as Rana's story was already there. We wanted to make it less stressful for my father and decided to use this technology... it is easier compared to live action," Soundarya said.