Live the Moment: The KTVI Success Meet Report

Silverscreen goes to the Kathai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam Success Meet

Kathai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam has had a great run at the box office so far. And, with the mostly positive reviews from the critics and the audience, the success meet that happened on Thursday afternoon was a foregone conclusion of sorts.

But there was something else that we didn’t quite expect.

The standing ovation that the KTVI team gave the members of the press.

Actor Parthiban went on stage to state the reason. “The success of this film is entirely due to word of mouth. Our second week collections have increased phenomenally and so has the number of screens. Media can make or break a film and we’re all very thankful that you decided to make us. Hence, we clapped. That’s the least we could do.”

That wasn’t all, though. Soon enough, we a saw a few people sitting up straight in their seats.

A huge chocolate cake was being brought in.

The speakers next to us blared the Live the Moment track from the film while the team took turns to carve out huge slices of the cake, and posed for cameras.

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This time around, almost everyone kept it short on-stage. And, (sometimes) sweet. New-finds Santhosh Prathap, Vijayram, Sahithya and Akhila played it safe and thanked the team for the ‘incredible opportunity’ while Lallu, clearly the more rambunctious of the lot, delivered a hilarious five-minute speech. From calling Vijay Sethupathy, Arya and Amala Paul “newcomers” to telling everyone how “sensitive” he is, Lallu was a riot. So much so that he proved to be a difficult act to follow, and even the normally verbose Parthiban took some time to warm up to the audience. “I don’t know where to begin or what to say. Lallu is like me…he wears his heart on his sleeve and is an emotional creature. I’m surprised he spoke so well today. Mostly, he would just tear up in the middle of a sentence! Jokes apart, the team that I found…okay, correction, who found me, has become an important part of my life. With their hard work, I got something that has been denied to me for a long time. Yes, I have tasted success after 20 years and it feels good!”

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The actor also observed that “failure has been his constant companion” for a while now and that he is wary of the success he’s experiencing. “Winning makes one lazy. It brings forth so many fears…whereas the loser will work twice as hard to get what he wants. Even now, when I live the high life, I still think about the starving assistant director I used to be.”

He then brandished a couple of CDs, and shocked us all. “Know what these are? Pirated versions of my film that I bought in Anna Nagar and Burma Bazaar. 30 rupees each, and it’s just been a week since my film released. It’s shameful that these people make money off someone else’s hard work. Unlike other fields, we cinema people know only this. So when you indulge in piracy, you’re stepping on the livelihood of many. Please think about it.” The director also added that he is planning to make a formal complaint to the Police Commissioner tomorrow, but is not hopeful of a positive result. “The anti-piracy team is short staffed right now and there’s not much that they can do. So I’ve decided to do something myself. I’m furious at this and don’t want to make a bad situation worse, so I’m taking some time off to calm down. I’ll be accompanying a special police team to the places where they sell the CDs. I’m not going to reveal what I will do. You’ll all know tomorrow.”