Rajinikanth’s mantra for happiness

Speaking during the pre-release event of 'Darbar' in Hyderabad, the actor said he believes in eating modestly, sleeping normally, exercising well and talking less

A R Murugadoss and Rajinikanth

The team of Darbar , including director A R Murugadoss and actor Rajinikanth, were in Hyderabad for a pre-release event on Friday evening. The film presented by Subaskaran of Lyca Productions stars Rajinikanth as cop Aditya Arunachalam.

Scheduled to release on January 9, the film will vie for box office attention amid other Telugu big ticket releases — Mahesh Babu starrer Sarileru Neekevvaru , Trivikram Srinivas’s Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo starring Allu Arjun, and Kalyan Ram starrer Entha Manchivaadavura directed by Satish Vegesna.

Darbar is positioned as an action thriller and the Telugu dubbed version is presented by produced N V Prasad. During the pre-release event, an action-laced video of the film was unveiled. Action choreographers Ram-Lakshman stated that they were eager to work on a Tamil film and took up the offer when

Darbar came their way.

The guests for the evening included Telugu directors Vamshi Paidipally, Harish Shankar, Maruthi, producer-distributor Dil Raju and BVSN Prasad. Harish stated that Rajinikanth had broken records in the pre-digital era: “In this digital age, there’s stiff competition about who gets the maximum hits online. Rajini sir broke all records without the big events and publicity decades ago. That’s how he became close to the Telugu audience.”

Nivetha Thomas

Actors Nivetha Thomas, Dalip Tahil and Suniel Shetty who are part of the

Darbar cast also flew in to Hyderabad and spoke briefly about working with the team.

Director AR Murugadoss stated while talking about the film, “A fight in the second half will have the audience clapping non-stop for five minutes. You will see the vintage Rajini sir in it.”

Suniel Shetty and Anirudh Ravichander

Darbar has music by Anirudh Ravichander and cinematography by Santosh Sivan.

When Rajinikanth began speaking, he was met with loud cheers. The superstar acknowledged the love he’s still showered with by his fans, and talked about what keeps him going at this age: “I owe my energy and happiness to my belief that we have to expect less, eat modestly, sleep normally, exercise well and talk less.” He also recalled the time when his film Anthuleni Katha (K Balachander’s remake of his Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai ) released in Telugu in 1976 and said, “Most of those who are here today were not even born then.” He remembered how his films have been warmly received in Telugu over the years.