Kollywood Facts (Facts About Your Favorite Stars and Films In Tamil Cinema)

If you're a big fan of Kollywood, here's some interesting facts that you might have never known before:

• Before Jayam Ravi came to prominence as an actor, he worked as an assistant director on the 2001 film "Aalavandhan."
• Rajinikanth has been credited as a screen writer for 2 of his films.
• Ajith and Vijay have actually starred in a film together. The film was the 1995 movie "Rajavin Parvaiyile."
• In order to make his character more believable, Kamal Hassan had a tooth pulled and also wore glasses that distorted his vision for the film "Anbe Sivam." Post release, it was revealed that his vision was affected slightly due to wearing the glasses.
  
• For the 2007 film "Sivaji," Rajinikanth became the second highest paid actor in Asia behind Jackie Chan.
• Mani Ratnam, a staunch supporter in filming movies entirely in India, shot for the first time outside of India for the 2007 film "Guru." For instance the 2002 film "Kannathil Muthamittal," the scenes that take place in Sri Lanka were re created in studios in India. 
•  Some notable actors have been assistant directors to Mani Ratnam, including stars such as Karthi and Sidharth.
  
• The 2003 film "Ennaku 20 Unakku 18" featured many actresses who were considered number one at some point in their careers. These actresses included Trisha, Shriya Saran, Reema Sen, and Tamannah.
• Reportedly Shah Rukh Khan did the role in "Hey Ram" for free, while also dubbing all his lines for the Tamil version.
• The 2003 film "Pithamagan" achieved a very rare feat in the Filmfare Awards by winning all four of the acting awards. Best actor went to Vikram, Supporting Actor to Surya, Best Actress to Laila, and Supporting Actress to Sangeetha.
• Hollywood star Jessica Alba reportedly liked the script of "Goa" so much, however demanded a salary that was greater than the entire budget of the film. Actress Melanie Marie was cast in the role instead, with her character name being Jessica Alba.
• Hindi actor Anil Kapoor, who missed on the chance to star in the film "Inception" reportedly asked Christopher Nolan on his thoughts on the film "Ghajini." Reportedly, Nolan was not pleased with the film, which was inspired by his film "Memento."
• Quentin Tarantino took inspiration from the movie "Aalavandhan" in creating some scenes for his film "Kill Bill."
• Originally Asin and Genelia D'Souza were to play the role of Meghna in the film "Vaaranam Aayiram." During the time Asin was part of the project, the title of the movie was named as "Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikalam."
• Asin was also part of a film by the name of AC, which was to be directed by SJ Surya and would star Silambarasan. However, only the photo promos were done and the film was left unfinished. 
  
• Hollywood actor Marlon Brando was a fan of Sivaji Ganeshan's acting.
• For the film Dasavatharam, machines that created waves as high as 20 feet were used to recreate the 2004 tsunami for the film. The cost for the particular scene was 3.5 crores, which is about $700,000.
• The film "Anandha Jyothi" had legendary actor MGR star alongside a young actor by the name of Kamal Hassan.
• Rajinikanth's film "Muthu" was a highly popular film in Japan.
• Ajithkumar is a well known race car driver, in fact having a 7th place season finish in the 2003 Formula BMW Asia.
• A.R. Rahman won 9 straight Filmfare Awards for Best Music Director from 1992-2000. His streak was ended by Harris Jayaraj in 2001 for the film "Minnale."
• Actor Mathavan was originally to play Prakash Raj's role in "Iruvar," but Mani Ratnam decided not to as he felt the actor looked too young for the role. Mathavan would make his debut in the 2000 film "Alaipayuthey," which would be directed by Mani Ratnam. They would end up working for 4 consecutive Mani Ratnam directed films.
• In fact, many prominent actors were offered to play Prakash Raj's role in "Iruvar." Some of the actors included Nana Patekar, Kamal Hassan, and Mamooty. Mamooty actually did some test shots for the role.
  
• As a singer, Vijay has sung 27 songs so far in career.
• Legendary comedian Vadivelu was discovered by Kamal Hassan.
• Why This Kolaveri, the song done by Anirudh and Dhanush for the film "3," is currently the highest viewed tamil cinema song on youtube.
• Actors Prashanth and Vikram are relatives.
• Actress Priyamani and Vidya Balan are relatives as well.
• K.S. Ravikumar is well known for his cameo appearances in the films that he has directed, having appeared in nearly every single one of his films.
• Actor Vivek was discovered by legendary director K. Balachander.
• The film "Kanthaswamy" was the first tamil film shot in Mexico.
• Actor Vikram performed the dubbing for Prabhu Deva in the film "Minsara Kanavu." 
• The film "Nayagan" was chosen by Time Magazine as one of thegreatest films ever made.
• Bollywood legend Aishwarya Rai started her film career with the film "Iruvar."
• Currently, "Enthiran" is the 14th most expensive non Hollywood film ever made, and is still the most expensive Indian film ever made.
  
• "Enthiran" is also currently the highest grossing film in tamil cinema history.
• The record for the most characters portrayed in one film by an actor was held by Kamal Hassan for the film "Dasavatharam." However this record has been broken after.
• Priyanka Chopra's first film was the movie "Thamizhan." She even sings a duet with Vijay in the film.
• Amitabh Bachchan produced the film "Ullasam" which had Ajith and Vikram starring together. It remains the only tamil film that Bachan is associated with.
• The movie "Jeans" memorably shot in many different locations around the world for the song Poovukul Olinthirukum. During the time for shooting in Paris, the Princess Diana passing had happened.
  
• "Jeans" also happened to be the only film that prominent Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj produced in tamil.
• His son Abhishek Bachchan was originally to portray the police role in Raavanan, however opted out considering his unfamiliarity with the language. Prithiviraj replaced him.
• Before he became the current number one comedian in tamil cinema, Santhanam had starred as a supporting comedian to other famous comedians such as Vadivelu and Vivek.
  
• Dhanush is the first tamil actor to have had his debut film in Hindi gross more than 100 crores.
• Johnny Tri Nguyen, who appeared as the villain in "7am Arivu" and also in the upcoming film Irumbu Kuthirai, is a stunt actor who has done stunts for Hollywood films such as "Spider-Man," "Collateral," and "X-Men First Class."
• The 1999 film "Suyamvaram" is the fastest made feature length film in cinema history. The entire film was made in under a day. It also holds the record for most famous stars in one film.
• A.R. Rahman is the highest earning tamil music director of all time.
• Actress Genelia D'Souza is the only actress to have had 4 different language films to be hits in the same year (2008 to be exact). Her successful films came in the languages of Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil. The tamil film that was successful for her that year was "Santhosh Subramaniam."
• Rahman is also is one of the best selling musicians of all time, accounting for all the soundtracks that he has produced for.
  
• Gautham Menon was reportedly offered to remake Kaakha Kaakha in Hollywood, however decided not to.
• Legendary actress Sri Devi was offered a role in the classic film "Jurassic Park," but rejected the role sighting scheduling problems and being a small role.
• Kamal Hassan has sung for a couple of songs for films that he wasn't a star in. These films include "Pudhupettai" and "Ullasam."
• Venkat Prabu has featured his brother Premji in every single film that he has directed.
• At the height of his fame, Vadivelu supposedly got paid in 10 minutes of screen time, the same amount of money some lead actors made for an entire film.
• "Geraftaar," is a hindi film that had Amitabh Bachchan star alongside both Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan.
• Actor Jiiva won the award of Best Actor at the Cyprus International Film Festival for his role in the movie "Raam."
• Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth have acted together in 11 films. It was Kamal Hassan who advised Rajinikanth to become a solo actor.