‘Coolie' trailer breakdown: Is Rajinikanth's character in Lokesh Kanagaraj's film inspired by a 1981 film of the superstar?

The Hindu

a day ago

Superstar Rajinikanth on Saturday (August 2) set social media on fire as the trailer of his much-awaited actioner Cooliewas unveiled by the makers. As is the case with all films directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, the trailer of Coolie has been put under the microscope by eager fans, and many fan theories have already been making the rounds.
So, without much ado, let's break down the three-minute trailer and see what Lokesh might be having in store for us when Coolie hits the screens on August 14. Again, fair warning to whomsoever concerned — the following are merely assumptions based on the trailer.
What's up with Sathyaraj and his torture chair?
From the trailer, it seems like veteran actor Sathyaraj's character acts as the moral centre of Lokesh's story. We see him operate in a hideout with an electric torture chair of sorts. This character is a father figure to a few young women, including Shruti Haasan's character, which brings us to the next prediction.
Are Sathyaraj and Rajinikanth fighting sex trafficking in 'Coolie'?
If LCU is about creating a drug-free society, the world of Coolie seems to be about tackling the social evil of sex trafficking.
Even the opening dialogue, about a new technology that can erase all traces of a human being from the world, adds to this theory. Perhaps this technology helps villains kidnap orphan women and get away with it.
Interestingly, there's a shot of Nagarjuna's antagonist character looking towards what seems to be a wall of LED monitors, possibly to speak with his contacts all around the globe (It does remind one of a similar idea from The Dark Knight Rises, and given Lokesh's admiration for Nolan's Batman films, this might be another hat-tip).
If our assumptions from the trailer are right, the story might centre around how Sathyaraj's character — and a vibrant team of young women he has protected over the years — seek revenge from Nagarjuna's human trafficking kingpin, who uses shipping containers to do the job. Soubin seems to be in charge of the ports.
Sathyaraj uses his torture chair and a deadly serum to interrogate and execute Nagarjuna's men, while Shruti is tasked to dispose of the bodies.
Perhaps tragedy strikes when the villains discover Sathyaraj's hideout? And that's when he brings out his biggest, most deadly weapon — Deva, played by Rajinikanth. And as obvious as it seems from the trailer, Sathyaraj's character might die in the film, after which an unleashed Deva takes over the mission.
Is Deva inspired by Raja from 'Thee'?
The biggest highlights of the trailer are shots from a flashback portion, showing Rajinikanth and Upendra's characters wearing blue uniforms as coolie workers. According to many fan theories doing the rounds, this is a hat-tip to Rajinikanth's 1981 film, Thee, in which he played a coolie worker named Raja.
A shot of Deva striking a matchstick against his metal badge is straight out of the R Krishnamoorthy directorial, and so is the final negative image short of Deva shifting a cigarette between his lips from right to left.