It was a dream come true for Vijay, hero of the Kannada blockbuster Duniya. The film, directed by debutant Soori and produced by the first-time producer Siddaraaju, is a hot topic of discussion in the Kannada film industry these days.
But the icing on the cake was when superstar Rajnikant watched the film, and hugged Vijay, Sooni and associate director Chandru, in appreciation of their efforts.
Rajnikant, a regular visitor to Bangalore, watches all the good and successful films made by youngsters. And if he likes the film, he always appreciates the film publicly, and spends time with the crew.
Interestingly, Rajni does not watch these movies at special shows. He just walks into a theatre with his friends, hiding his face with a muffler. It is well known that Rajni saw Aaptha Mithra thrice in a week and then decided to act in its Tamil version Chandramukhi. The rest is history.
Rajni saw Duniya in Bangalore's Vinayaka theatre and was very impressed with the presentation and its action sequences. In no time, he sent word through his associates in Bangalore that he wanted to meet the crew. Soori, Vijay and Chandru went to Chennai to have an audience with the Superstar. The meeting went on for nearly 25 minutes and what amazed the three was the way the star described each sequence in detail, sometimes even the background score.
"I had never expected anything like this to happen to me," an overjoyed Vijay said. "I was an ardent fan of Rajni sir and I used to watch his films on the day of its release. When I heard that Rajni sir wanted to see our team, I almost had tears of joy. I was thinking the whole day what I should tell him, what I should wear and how to answer his questions. But I was spellbound throughout the meeting and only listened to him. He told me he also had to struggle a lot in his life before he became an actor, and that his struggle continues even today. It was a great moment in my life."
Director Soori was astonished to hear Rajni talking about the finer points of the film. "I never expected him to watch a film so seriously remembering every detail. He is a good critic too. He told me he liked the way I narrated the story. It was a big day in my life and career."
