The protagonist, Rajinikanth (Arya), was born in a theatre screening of Dharmathin Thalaivan, and like one of Rajinikanth's characters in that film, he has a forgetful nature. The film doffs its hat at the older film by introducing its protagonist in underwear, as he has forgotten to wear pants. This condition of Rajini is a constant source of embarrassment to his parents Ramanathan (Aadukalam Naren) and Lakshmi (Uma Padmanabhan), as they cannot find a suitable match for him. One prospective girl's father Sathyamoorthy (Sampath Raj) insults Rajini because of this. As fate would have it, Rajini ends up falling in love with Sathyamoorthy's daughter Vandhana (Sayyeshaa), but she is unaware of Rajini's forgetfulness. How long can Rajini continue with this facade, especially with Ajay (Lijeesh), a cop who wants to marry Vandhana and is trying to expose him?
Cast
Arya as Rajinikanth Ramanathan aka Ghajinikanth, the amnesiac protagonist who falls in love with Vandhana
Sayyeshaa as Vandhana Sathyamoorthy, Rajini's girlfriend who is unaware of his forgetfulness
In October 2015, a Tamil remake of the Telugu film Bhale Bhale Magadivoy (2015) with G. V. Prakash Kumar as the protagonist was announced, but never came to fruition.[2] In late November 2017, Studio Green announced that they would collaborate with filmmaker Santhosh P. Jayakumar for a comedy film starring Arya and Sayyeshaa in the lead roles.[3][4] Titled Ghajinikanth, the film was revealed to be a remake of Bhale Bhale Magadivoy, and the first look poster had Arya in an ethnic attire resembling a character portrayed by Rajinikanth in the 1988 film, Dharmathin Thalaivan.[5][6] The title is a portmanteau of the words "Ghajini" and "Rajinikanth",[7] and was titled so because of the forgetful nature of Rajinikanth's character in Dharmathin Thalaivan and Suriya's character in Ghajini (2005).[8] The shoot began with a song sequence shot in Thailand, before the team completed scenes in Chennai.[9] Santhosh was directing this alongside another film Iruttu Araiyil Murattu Kuththu (2018). Shooting ended in 39 days.[10][11][12]
Production budget of the film was valued at ₹8 crore excluding Arya's salary.[14] The satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay.[15]
Critical reception
Indian Express wrote "There are several ways to keep the viewer engaged - it could be through the story, its characters, the writing or the filmmaking. Sadly, Ghajinikanth doesn't tick any of the boxes."[16]Times of India wrote "Despite the film offering great scope for comedy, Ghajinikanth is entertaining only in places."[17]Sify called it "Family-friendly comedy entertainer" and wrote "Overall, Ghajinikanth is a time pass entertainer and you will enjoy watching it with family and friends!"[18]
