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Back in 1991, the film industry was electrified by 'Shanti Kranti', a daring multi-lingual venture that saw Rajinikanth and Nagarjuna embody the same character in various linguistic versions. This high-stakes action crime drama, boasting a lavish budget and an impressive cast including Juhi Chawla and Khushbu, unfortunately did not resonate with audiences and became a box office disaster.
Back in 1991, two major South Indian stars — Akkineni Nagarjuna and Rajinikanth — surprisingly played the exact same role in different language versions of one film. The movie was 'Shanti Kranti' which is a big-budget action crime drama made simultaneously in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam. V. Ravichandran wrote, directed and produced the ambitious project. He played the lead in the Kannada version while handing the same role to Nagarjuna in Telugu and to Rajinikanth in Tamil and Hindi. The movie is available to stream on Prime Video and also on YouTube.
Ambitious multi-language project
'Shanti Kranti' was one of the most expensive South Indian films of its era. Ravichandran wanted to tell a story about children and an organ transplant mafia.As reported by OTT Play, he erected massive sets, including a recreation of Bengaluru’s MG Road for the climax.
Separate crews, cars and catering teams were arranged for each language version.
What S. Narayan revealed
Actor-director S. Narayan later spoke in an interview about the scale of the project. As quoted by OTT Play, he said, "If Shanti Kranti had succeeded at the box office, our industry would have been in a different place."He added details about the grand arrangements: "Crew members would wear tags like 'Shanti Kranti, Kannada, Manager' and the catering team would wear gloves like in a star hotel.
You wouldn't have seen an arrangement like that."
Nagarjuna and Rajinikanth played the same role
In the Kannada version, V. Ravichandran played Inspector Subhash. Nagarjuna took the same role in Telugu while Rajinikanth essayed it in Tamil and Hindi.Juhi Chawla, Khushbu and Anant Nag appeared in all versions. Rajinikanth initially declined the offer but agreed after hearing the full story from Ravichandran.
Box office failure and personal setback
Despite the huge effort and budget, 'Shanti Kranti' failed to recover its cost at the box office.
The film’s commercial failure came at a difficult time for Ravichandran.His father, legendary producer N. Veeraswamy, was bedridden and the family was facing financial troubles. The project’s grand vision could not translate into success.
Reunion of Nagarjuna and Rajinikanth after many years
Nagarjuna and Rajinikanth did not share screen space again for decades. They finally came together years later in the recently released film 'Coolie'. In the Lokesh Kanagaraj's directorial, Nagarjuna played the villain character opposite Rajinikanth.
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