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On a different key Television artistes team up

“Our other talents will be showcased,” says Venu Arvind, captain of the crew. “Bhargavi Sundararajan in the U.S. is behind the venture. She persuaded me saying that Tamil serials and their actors are popular there. The Indo-American Cultural and Religious Foundation has invited us over and I’m organising it from this end,” he said. The sponsors, earmarked the small screen actors they wanted. “It was a pleasant revelation. We didn’t know we had fans that far away,” volunteers Premsai, who is part of the group.

Though TV stars have done shows abroad before, the groups had included dancers, singers, big screen faces and mimicry artists. For the first time the show comprises TV artistes exclusively. Well almost, barring singers Srilekha Parthasarathy and Sriram. About the three-hour package they’ve planned for the proscenium… “Well, I plan to entertain the crowd with my songs. So will Deepa Venkat, Uma Padmanabhan, Chetan and Premsai,” says Abhishek, who has been shooting and dubbing round the clock for the past month, to complete his work in time before he leaves for the shows. “I plan to catch up on my sleep on the flight,” he smiles.

The group also plans to present writer Sujatha’s popular one-act play “Oru Kolai”. And besides interactive sessions with the audience, celebrity talk and audio visuals are on the cards. “The clippings in which artistes such as Radhika have spoken will be an enjoyable segment of the show,” says Venu Arvind.

For long, none could imagine TV actors dancing for movie numbers. But ‘Naach Baaliye’ and ‘Jodi No.1’ have changed all that.

Today their dances are looked forward to, and to cater to the fad, will be Chetan and Devadarshini who will repeat the dances they did for ‘Jodi No.1’ “Earlier I was a bit apprehensive about my dancing, but post-‘Jodi’ I’m confident I can pull it off,” laughs Chetan.

But how did they squeeze in time for practice sessions? “We assembled at the YMCA, Nandanam, on 10 consecutive Sundays for the purpose,” says Premsai.

“It’s a wonderful team and we are very good entertainers,” says Abhishek. Is he going to dance too? “I’ll do what I’m good at. But the whole group, including Mohan Ram and myself, will dance for the finale,” he laughs.

“It’s quite a challenge. I’ve been working on it for the past six months and I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” concludes Venu Arvind.

MALATHI RANGARAJAN

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