Rajinikanth’s Petta has been scheduled for Pongal 2019. Ahead of its release, the makers launched the film’s audio at an event held in Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Chennai. The audio launch was attended by the film’s cast and crew members in addition to fans and college students.
While Karthik Subbaraj and Anirudh Ravichander, the film’s director and music director respectively, were alternately attributing the other to be the greatest Thalaivar fan, this sentiment was equally reflected by all the cast members.
Rajini, who came up on stage last, spoke about his experience of having worked in Petta and also appreciated Vijay Sethupathi’s acting talents. “He is a maha nadigan. Felt very good to have worked with someone like him after so long,” he said to loud cheering.
Sharing that Petta is a story that was inspired by, performed by and dedicated to Rajinikanth, Karthik Subbaraj said that his dream of making one film with the superstar looked bleak especially after he announced his political career. “I had narrated the story to him in 2015 but it had to wait since he went on to do Kaala and then later announced his political entry. I kept thinking my life would remain incomplete if I never got the chance to work with him,” he said.
Petta, therefore, is a story that was written exclusively for Rajinikanth. This fact was reiterated when Rajini and Karthik spoke. The director also confirmed that they’ve tried to recreate Rajini’s acting from the '80s and the '90s. Rajini also laughed along, saying, “He asked me to do things that I did when I was 30 or 40 years old.”
Karthik said that Vijay Sethupathi had once told him, “You’ll do a film with Rajini sir and when you do so, I’ll play the villain.” Vijay Sethupathi too confirmed that he plays the villain in Petta. “Only if you stand against a big figure can you become great,” he said.
Actors Simran and Trisha too expressed their happiness in having worked with Rajinikanth. Not revealing much about their characters, Simran said that she had always wanted to be paired up with Rajini in the past.
Actor Nawazuddin, who was recently accused of sexual misconduct by Niharika Singh, came up on stage remarked that the audio launch was like a festival and that it was impossible to not have seen a Rajini film. Actors Bobby Simha, Samuthirakani and Sasikumar were also present during the launch in addition to Sun Pictures Kalanidhi Maran and his production team.
The film’s audio has a total of 11 tracks, 6 songs and 5 themes. Listen to the jukebox here: