‘Kolaveri song swallowed, overshadowed my film,’ says 3 director Aishwarya Rajinikanth

In an interview with Rednool, director Aishwarya Rajinikanth, whose new film Lal Salaam hit the screens recently, opened up about the song and how it impacted 3, which did not receive as much acceptance as the song. Stating that she was shocked rather than surprised at the overwhelming response the song received upon its digital release, she recalled that the song pretty much “swallowed the film”.

Mentioning that she still doesn’t fully comprehend why the song became such a phenomenon, Aishwarya said, “These are things we can’t plan beforehand. Some things are like that, if they are to happen, they will. We weren’t prepared for it. It was a huge shock for us too. Kolaveri just happened in our lives. It also became a huge pressure on the film.”

“I was trying to tell a different story… but then the song came out and it swallowed and overshadowed the film. It was very difficult for me. We were making a serious, contentful film. Even after 3 was released, not many spoke to me much about the film [as much as they talked about the song]. Nevertheless, whenever the movie is re-released or telecast [on TV], I receive a lot of phone calls appreciating it,” she mentioned.

“If you ask me if the song helped the movie in any way, I would say absolutely not. If it helped a lot of people in their personal lives, that’s a good thing,” Aishwarya added.

During a chat with Film Companion last year, composer Anirudh Ravichander said that he was quite upset with the song releasing directly on YouTube. “I was quite sad then because as a composer, you want your first movie, first song to come out on a CD. You want to give it to your friends. I was 19 or something and I was like, ‘Oh god, this is my first song and already the bad version had leaked, and now this song is coming out on something called YouTube,” he recalled.

Also starring Shruti Haasan, Sivakarthikeyan, Sunder Ramu, Prabhu, and Bhanupriya in key roles, the film 3 revolves around two high school sweethearts who eventually get married. However, their lives take a downward journey, and the man ends up dying by suicide, leaving the woman with little to no idea as to why he took the extreme step, forcing her to delve into his parallel life.