Annaatthe Trailer Talk: Rajinikanth Plays A Loving Brother And Swashbuckling Panchayat President

The trailer of Rajinikanth-starrer Annaatthe, directed by Siva, was released by Sun Pictures today. It reveals the film's basic plot: Rajinikanth's Kalaiyyan dotes on his sister (Keerthy Suresh). They live happily in a village called Soorakottai near Madurai until she moves to Kolkata after her marriage. She runs into trouble there with a hideous-looking villain played by Jagapathi Babu, and the rest of the film could be about how Rajinikanth saves his sister in Kolkata. 

The trailer begins with a few punches by Rajinikanth followed by people smashing through glass backgrounded by a punch dialogue about how one's real assets are words and actions, not possessions. After economically establishing that Kalaiyyan is a righteous man we learn that he's the President of his village. 

Rajinikanth is at his comic best in this early section of the trailer, especially in his shots with Keerthy Suresh. It seems like Nayanthara plays his girlfriend (while Kushbu and Meena play his erstwhile mora ponnus??).  But Kalaiyyan's best joke in the trailer is reserved for a negative character played by Prakash Raj: He menacingly says that he's a 'mosamaana mollamaari' only for Kalaiyyan to superbly upend it into an insult. 

After that, the trailer gets into standard masala movie mode and we're introduced to a strange-looking side-burn-flaming Jagapathi Babu who thinks it's his right to destroy Kalaiyyan. The trailer ends the same way it began: with punches and punchlines by Rajinikanth.

Rajinikanth's Annaatthe was released earlier this month and gave us a few hints about the film's plot: A man from a village unleashes destruction in the city as revenge for something. The first single 'Annaatthe Annaatthe' was released earlier this month, the last SPB-Rajini introduction song in a tradition of  over three decades. The film's promotions officially took off when the first look was released in September, followed by a motion poster. 

Apart from Rajinikanth, the film stars Meena, Khushboo, Nayanthara, Keerthy Suresh, Jackie Shroff, Jagapathi Babu, Prakash Raj, Soori and Satish. Annaatthe is directed by Siva and has music by D. Imman (Viswasam, Teddy, Laabam). Editing is by Ruben, cinematography by Vetri and action by Dhilip Subbarayan. 

Produced by Sun Pictures, the film's production and release was postponed multiple times due to the pandemic in 2020. The makers have now officially announced that the film releases on November 4.