Friday Review
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Providential escape
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Ramya magically survived an accident that could have been serious
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Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
LUCK PREVAILED She was nearly choked by a crane malfunction while strapped and suspended mid-air
Ramya, as usual was travelling back from the airport when I spoke to her. It’s all happening to her. She was nearly choked by a crane malfunction while strapped and suspended mid-air. She plays a woman with magical powers in Babus kid’s f
ilms and has stunts akin to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Just when everyone was speculating that she would shift base to Chennai she’s signed a slew of Kannada films. She may miss out on the “Mungaru Maley” sequel because of lack of dates but has signed a couple of films with Sudeep and one with “Duniya” Vijay. Meanwhile, she’s wrapped up “Polladhavan” with Dhanush and looks ravishing in the promos though her absence was conspicuous during the music release of the film. She’s off to the US on a long schedule for Gautam Menon’s much delayed “Vaaranam Aayiram”. When she’s not chatting up friends on the net, Ramya devours books by the dozen. She can’t stop raving about Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, a touchingly told tale about two women. She hopes a sensitive director will make it into a film with her playing one of the protagonists.
My old friend and the most flamboyant film producer since Vasan, “Kalaipuli” Dhanu sent me an invitation costing a small fortune for the muhurath of his magnum opus, “Kandhasamy” starring Vikram and Shriya. Imagine a digital invitation where you can watch an elaborate teaser trailer of the film. “I have informed the Guinness book of world records about this and hope it’ll get a mention,” says the soft-spoken producer. There was a sea of fans outside the venue and an army of hefty security guys to keep gatecrashers at bay. The whole programme was to be telecast live and so it started on time. There was a hush as the stylishly shot trailer was shown which evoked a lengthy applause. Susi Ganesan, who’s trained in the Mani Ratnam School of filmmaking, spoke about the ambitious project. He stated that India’s main problem today was the widening gap between the rich and the poor. The film is about how his protagonist tries to bridge this. “Rich individuals and corporates can easily adopt villages and improve the basic infrastructure,” said the director in all earnestness. “To prove that we’re not just talking our unit has adopted a couple of tiny villages in Madurai district,” said Susi.
A short film was shown about how the unit has helped improve the roads and spruced up the village school. Dhanu has donated a massive choultry he built in the memory of his mother. Vikram who’s lost considerable weight, plays six roles including that of a beautiful woman. He didn’t speak much but mouthed a few dialogues and danced to the title song along with the svelte Shriya. The villagers who’d been ferried to Chennai were full of praise for the unit and their hard work. The film, a bi-lingual, is already creating ripples in the trade. Let’s hope the good intentions and hard work translates into success. “I hope to create awareness and start a movement with this film,” says Dhanu.
S. SHIVA KUMAR
sshivu@yahoo.com
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
