Muthu is one of the memorable movies in Rajinikanth’s career when it comes to fetching him an international attention. The film brought such a huge fan base for the actor in Japan, that Japanese people often come to Chennai to watch his films.
The latest update is that the digitally restored version of Muthu will have a re-release in Japan on 23 November in Tokyo, a week ahead of Shankar’s magnum opus 2.0.
In an official statement, Kavithalayaa Productions said: Muthu (1995) directed by K S Ravikumar and produced by Kavithalayaa Productions featuring Rajinikanth and Meena in lead roles was a blockbuster hit in India. The movie was subtitled in Japanese and released in Japan as Muthu: Odoru Maharaja — Dancing Maharaja in 1998.
The film received rave reviews and was released in 30 plus screens across Japan. It was the first non-Hollywood film to get a blockbuster release in Japan in that year. The memory of Muthu continues to be very strong in Japan and it was hailed as the cultural ambassador between the two countries.
It may be recalled that our former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh mentioned the movie as a cultural ambassador between India and Japan in his address to the Japanese Parliament in Oct 2006. Now, celebrating its 20th year anniversary in Japan, the film is getting re-released on 23 November 2018 in Tokyo, Japan.
The film has been fully restored and digitally enhanced to 4K and 5.1 Surround. The film restoration technicians have worked hard and ensured the original aspects of the film are preserved. The original music/background score has been upgraded to 5.1 Surround under the supervision of A R Rahman who was the original music composer of Muthu.