A few things that regularly happen at audio launches took place at Anegan‘s too. Dhanush was clad in veshti-sattai, artistes delivered a slew of vote of thanks, and the heroine, who didn’t understand Tamil, looked lost at the event.
But there were also a few things that don’t usually happen.
Yesteryear star Karthik was at the venue before the media. The fans and AGS Cinemas’ staff were star-struck seeing their childhood hero, and a long queue was formed to take selfies with Karthik. The actor basked in all the attention and willingly obliged everyone. Since he was too early for the launch, Karthik waited for Dhanush and KV Anand to join him. Meanwhile, he caught up with some senior media members, who had known him since his active years. We could hear his “Ha ha ha!” quite often. There was never a dull moment when Karthik was around and the theatre echoed with his guffaws.
“We request Arimuga Nayagar Karthik, younger brother of Gautham Karthik to come on stage,” announced the host. Karthik ran to the dais and sat with the Anegan team. We think he was quite pleased by the announcement. Director RV Udhayakumar, a special guest, went to the mic first. “I am so happy for Karthik, who returns to acting with Anegan. I have done a lot of films with him and I have always loved working with him,” he said.
Karthik interrupted RV Udhayakumar’s speech. “Unga padathula nadichathu enga annan,” he joked. Dhanush burst into laughter. RV Udhayakumar continued, “I admire Dhanush. He is more expressive than Kamal Haasan.” Dhanush squirmed and covered his face in embarrassment. But RV Udhayakumar was in no mood to quit. “In my opinion, Dhanush is more stylish than Rajinikanth.” It was all that Dhanush could take. He removed his glasses, pulled up his veshti and started running out. Karthik managed to stop him. RV Udhayakumar was still determined though. “Dhanush thambi thirumbi vaanga. Unga mamanaar kochikka maataaru. Kochikkitaalum naan pesaren.”
Not a comforting answer. Dhanush was still red-faced, and heaved a sigh of relief when RV Udhayakumar got back to his seat. And as he walked past the guests on stage, Karthik held out his hand and said, “You spoke so much only because you want Dhanush’s dates. I know! I know! Ha ha ha!” RV Udhayakumar laughed along with him.
They could afford to tease each other. After all, they have been close friends for about 20 years.
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Lyricist Rokesh, who debuts with Anegan, has penned the kuthu song Danga Maari Odhaari. The young writer was jittery on stage and stood smiling near the mic for a few minutes. When he mustered courage, all that he could say was, “Dhanush sir first time paakaren. Pechu varla.” He scratched his head and continued smiling. Having understood that Rokesh was clearly star-struck and was too nervous to speak, Dhanush rushed over to Rokesh and hugged him tight. The treatment worked. Rokesh began his speech by thanking Harris Jayaraj. The North Madras resident, an expert at Madras-bashai, said, “It’s a golden opportunity. I still can’t believe that I wrote a song for Harris Jayaraj and that my favourite star Dhanush sang it.”
Director CS Amudhan has written the song YOLO. The filmmaker, who has worked on many jingles with Harris Jayaraj, joked, “Like Kabilan Vairamuthu, I can’t proudly recite lines from my song. Ellam thanni adikkaradhu pathi. epdi solluven!” Writers Suba delivered their speech together. “The lead artiste had to showcase different emotions in Anegan. And when we worked on the story, we knew only Dhanush could pull it off.”
KV Anand termed the experience of working in Anegan as “living with several wives.” He explained, “Editor Antony, cinematographer Om Prakash are all like my wives. I spent a lot of time with them and they took the liberty of finding faults. It was difficult. But without them, this couldn’t have happened.”
Dhanush then declared that Anegan was the biggest film of his career. Karthik thanked KV Anand over and over again for bringing him back to acting. “Thoongum pothu kooda kaalaatitey thoonganum. illaati nammala marandhuduvaanga. I thought Tamil cinema had forgotten me. When nobody came, KV Anand did. I am grateful to him.”
We could hear him sniffle.
“I don’t want to get too emotional,” he said. But those were happy tears, we think.
And then the audio was launched.
