At the press meet for Tamilukku En Ondrai Aluthavum, we were surprised to see the giant meteor prop from the Appuchi Gramam event make an appearance. An hour and several conspiracy theories later, director Ramprakash Rayappa cleared the air. “The periya kallu you saw outside has nothing to do with my film whatsoever. Someone must have left it out there. If we’d brought one, our prop would be a cell tower,” he clarified.
Tamilukku…, a thriller, is about how important phones have become in our daily lives. “The movie has three different stories which merge at a certain point due to a crisis. Nakul, Dinesh and Sathish have worked like assistant directors on this film to make it a success. I’m very thankful to them,” said Ramprakash. That he thought the world of his producer, Chandran, was also obvious.
“I’ve spent many years in this industry and have been conned by people who told me that they would produce my film. Chandran sir gave me hope and looked after me like my own father. He is the sole reason we could make such a polished product,” he claimed.
Madhan Karky’s quirky lyrics for the film garnered him a lot of praise and some ardent fans as well. Bindu Madhavi expressed her joy at finally having met the lyricist in person and Nakul too admitted that he’d long been an admirer of Karky’s work. Actor Sathish also claimed that he was rather envious of how Madhan had put his computer science degree to good use by writing some ‘sciencey’ songs.
Madhan took it all in his stride and thanked the team for their ‘lovely words’. He has written two songs for the film – Robo Romeo – about a young girl who falls in love with a scientist and the title track, Tamilukku En Ondrai Aluthavum, which the team will use to promote the movie. “Robo Romeo is a very catchy song and was a very funny recording experience! For the title song, Thaman got Alphonse to record it. I’ve always liked the way he sings and he made this particular song all the more interesting.” Thaman also made Madhan ‘speak’ a couple of lines from the song. “In the history of cinema, this is the first time that someone has auto-tuned speaking!” joked Karky.
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Actor Sathish plays a call taxi driver in TN1A and had to learn driving for his role. He is paired opposite actress Shaalu, who joked that she was scared for her life filming portions inside the car while he ‘drove’. “There used to be people on the road and I had to be on the front seat with Sathish. Deepak (the DoP) would be seated in the backseat, and both of us would be frightened out of our minds. Thankfully, he drove pretty decently.”
Nakul performed some dangerous stunts of his own for the film. A scene required him to be on top of a 40 feet cell tower and the actor did it himself, refusing the offer of a body double. He is a true director’s actor, claimed Ramprakash Rayappa. “He worked just like an assistant director for this film and I’m very grateful to him. He was one of the key reasons why Thaman signed on to compose the music for the film. Nakul has lived this rather difficult role that I crafted for him.”
Tamilukku En Ondrai Azhuthavum’s songs were launched earlier this week. The film has been wrapped up and is currently in post- production.