Soundarya Rajinikanth interview: On her comeback, ‘With Love’, and what ‘Kochadaiyaan’ taught her

Sundarya Rajinikanth, producer of Tamil fillm 'With Love', talks about her love for animation and revisits the 'Kochadaiyaan' experience

Soundarya Rajinikanth’s office room is filled with all things cinema. Among posters of ThePursuit of Happyness, Iruvar and 101 Dalmations is a poster of Kochadaiyaan, her 2014 animation film starring her father and Tamil superstar, Rajinikanth.

A poster of With Love will soon be added to this collection. Starring Abishan Jeevinth and Anaswara Rajan, the Tamil release marks Soundarya’s comeback as a producer to Tamil cinema; her last production was the Venkat Prabhu-directed Goa (2010).

“Yes, it is a comeback,” says Soundarya, in a tone that reminds one of her father’s punchline ‘Na Thirumbi Vanthuten Nu Sollu’ from Kabali, “My break from films was not intentional; my personal life and children were my priority, and there was the pandemic phase. Now, I have come back with a lot of new learnings. One important change is the way a film is being positioned today. There is a lot of young blood in the industry, which is super exciting.”

Abishan Jeevinth and Anaswara Rajan in ‘With Love’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

With Love, which features much of that young blood that she is referring to,caught her attention in ways more than one. “Madhan (writer and director) had a lot of conviction, and I connected with it. In fact, I said yes half way through his narration itself. When this project came to me, it came through Madhan, Magesh (producer) and Abishan... so it felt like the right thing to take up,” she states.

The fact that the film is a rom-com helped... for, Tamil cinema has chosen guns over roses in the last few years. “I love rom-coms. I binge-watch Friends even today, and have loved watching Shameless and Modern Family over the years. Someone recently used the term ‘comfort cinema’, which I really liked. With Love is comfort cinema. It’s the kind of film you can revisit even after years, as it will leave you with a smile.”