Rajinikanth-starrer Kazhugu completed 42 years of its release on March 6 this year. The cult film was inspired by the American film Race With The Devil, which was released in 1975.
Race with the Devil was an action horror directed by Jack Starrett. It featured popular Hollywood actors, including Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, Lara Parker, and Peter Fonda.
The film, however, couldn’t do well at the box office owing to its unconventional story involving human sacrifice and hypnotism. The plot of the movie revolves around a wealthy businessman, who lives with his younger brother. The businessman is a devotee of priests and saints and trusts them blindly. Owing to this, he falls victim to a member of a gang who disguises himself as a priest to know the locker details of the businessman.
Kazhugu hit the screens on March 6, 1981, to mixed reviews. It was eventually declared a flop and ran for less than fifty days in Chennai theatres.
Actor, singer, and comedian YG Mahendran, who played a supporting role in the movie, said in an interview in 2020 that the movie failed because its theme was ahead of its time.
S.P. Muthuraman, the director of the movie, as quoted in the book, Rajinikanth: The definitive biography that the team bought a bus which was then converted into a caravan for the film. The story of the film was different but the audience couldn’t understand it.
The luxury bus in the picture took Rs 7 lakh to build and was the centre of attraction in the movie. The vehicle in the movie was gifted to Rajinikanth, who portrayed the character of the businessman’s younger brother. Rajnikanth was seen going for a honeymoon trip on the bus in Kazhugu.
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