littleindia.net.my - From 'Black Pearl' to 'Vellai Thamizhan' :

Appo Nan Pachai Thamizhan...Ippo Naan Vellai Thamizhan, sings Rajnikanth for the Style song in Sivaji. Fondly called as 'Black Pearl' by his fans, Rajnikanth, turns up (albeit for a small stretch) in white vintage in the film. The transformation from black to white was achieved not in a make-up room, but in a technical studio, and that too after a year of hard work put in by a team of software professionals.
Sivaji starring Rajnikanth and Shriya released last week has been witnessing a bumper opening at the box office.

Rajni's fans are in a surprise after espying their favourite hero in attractive (or at any rate, wheatish) white in the Style song. Many were quick to brush it off saying that it was the result of fairness cream or cosmetic touch-up.
Denying the notion cinematographer K V Anand says 'we achieved the impossible (tried never before in the history of world cinema) after several months of hard work. It is a Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) work by a city-based firm, Indian Arts'.
The colour tone of one of the UK-based dancers in the background of the song was used to turn up the tone of the actor, frame by frame. The post-production for the 6000-plus frames took a year to complete, as computer graphic artists from Indian Arts toiled to make Rajni 'Snow White', says Anand.
'The idea was originally conceived by director Shankar. He wanted to show how Rajnikanth would look if he had been a Westerner. We zeroed in on Indian Arts for the job. We selected one of the dancers brought from London for the song, which was shot in Spain. Every frame that featured Rajnikanth was reshot with the dancer and was sent to Indian Arts. The job was completed after almost an year.'
On his part, producer M S Guhan, said, 'we want the audience to know the effort behind the song. We are elated at the final output. The response is so overwhelming that there are demands to dub the movie into other languages.'