A family friend of mine, he inspired me to enter filmdom. I had earlier made two short films - 'Nandri' and 'Slipper' - and got critical acclaim at the Australian International Film Fest and the Canadian International Film Festival,' he added.

Niranjan has done a couple of Sinhalese films too.

Major portions of 'Sooriyaa' were shot in exotic locations in Sri Lanka, except a song sequence that would be canned in Switzerland.

'We hope it would add to the commercial value of the movie,' said Niranjan who plans to release the movie in Sri Lanka, Europe and other parts of the globe where Tamils live.

'Since we get latest facilities in Chennai, I chose to do the post-production works here.'

An ardent Rajnikant fan, Niranjan plans to invite the southern superstar for the movie's premiere.