Manjapai Press Meet Report

Silverscreen goes to the Manjapai Press Meet

If you really think about it, Manjapai is a love story of sorts. A naive grandfather comes to the big bad city to visit his grandson. Things are funny in the beginning, his antics amuse the grandson. But soon,  he finds himself unable to come to terms with the urban life, and the story takes a different turn. Starring Vimal as the grandson and yesteryear actor Rajkiran as the bumbling thatha, the movie is directed by debutant N Raghavan, and jointly produced by directors A Sarkunam and N Lingusamy. The cast and crew of Manjapai met the press in the city recently.

N Raghavan, director, was quite nervous to be on stage. “Please forgive me if I say something wrong,” he began, “at this point, I’m practically blabbering. I chose the title Manjapai because that’s how city people refer to villagers. Oru manjapaiya thookitu vandhuttanya…this phrase inspired the movie.”

He added, ” Lakshmi Menon, Vimal and Rajkiran are part of the movie. My very first movie. And naturally, it’s quite an honour to be working with such great people! I was initially wary of the chemistry between the thatha and peran, but from the minute Rajkiran met Vimal, it’s been magical. Whatever you see onscreen is genuine. Somehow, they ended up being like a real grandfather and grandson and for this, I’m very thankful!”

Most of the cast restricted themselves to thanking the production house and the media. Not much was said, until actor Rajkiran took to the stage. “Sarkunam made this movie possible. He made a young man’s directing dreams come true and for that alone, he will go to heaven!” He was tight lipped about his role though. “See, you can find out about my role if you see the trailer..there’s not much to talk about it. The movie is driven by the intense love that exists between a grandfather and his grandson. That’s all there is to it!”

Actress Lakshmi Menon was not present, to the disappointment of many. When a car bearing the name of the actress came inside the venue, photographers and videographers crowded around it. They were in for a shock when a man walked out.