Valeba Raja, billed as India’s first “psycho-comedy” movie, launched its audio recently at Devi Cinemas. While actor Santhanam couldn’t make it to the event, he did send along his ‘good friends’ – actors JK Rithesh and ‘Powerstar’ Sreenivasan – to help liven things up. They certainly tried their best. Powerstar attempted a set of impressive poses a la RJ Balaji, because he was tired of smiling and “standing straight” for the cameras. In direct contrast, Rithesh chose to surround himself with veshti clad ‘bodyguards’ and walked swiftly inside. But the hero Sethu, lingered near the entrance and even joked about the heat while waiting for the event’s chief guest, Kamal Haasan to arrive. The Uttama Villain star came in a sleek white Audi that perfectly matched his attire, and expectedly, was the cynosure of all eyes.
Here’s a definitive list of things that happened at the Valeba Raja audio launch:
1. Actor Chithra Lakshmanan discovered Google and Wikipedia last week, and put them to good use at the event. While he didn’t want to list out the details of Kamal’s life, he did want us to know that he can use Google now.
2. He also said that Kamal and the movie have a lot in common. Both are Valeba Rajas. Get it?
3. That Valeba Raja has two actresses is common knowledge. What’s new is that both girls are ‘super’ fans of actor Kamal Haasan. Vishakha wanted to take a selfie with Kamal while Nushrat sang a song – a Hindi song. While we didn’t understand what exactly it was about, we can tell you that Kamal was pleased. We know, because he smiled. Slightly.
4. Hero Sethu is a doctor in real life and is a practicing dermatologist at Stanley Hospital. He also shared his thoughts on the film industry and told us how it has ‘welcomed’ him. So would we. Click here to see why.
Kamal Quip : “Naan padikaamale doctor! I didn’t study; but became a doctor through my movies. But Sethu studied to become a doctor and then chose a career in films.”
5. Radhan, the music composer of Valeba Raja, became quite emotional on-stage. Despite his Telugu debut, he insisted that he was only a ‘Tamil boy’ at heart.
Kamal Quip : “Tamil cinema always welcomes Tamil artistes and technicians.” Also, Tamil boys of every kind.
6. Powerstar thanked Kamal Haasan for talking about him. We spotted quite a few people searching, ‘Kamal Haasan talks about Powerstar’ on their phones. Sadly, Google was no help at all.
7. Actress Devadarshini used her time on-stage wisely and asked Kamal for a role in his next movie. Preferably as the akka.
Kamal Quip : “Kasthuri has acted as my daughter and Nizhalgal Ravi has acted as my son. So, don’t worry. Something will come to you soon. But, the role will be determined by the script.”
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8. Devadarshini was also the translator for ‘Bollywood’ actresses Nushrat and Vishakha. Everything said in Tamil was quickly translated for the actresses’ benefit.
9. KV Anand claimed that he went to the ‘Kamal school of filmmaking’.
Kamal Quip : “Schoolukku pogadhavanoda schoolla padicha epdi. I don’t have a school of filmmaking and all. I try to learn from everybody and people do the same from me. That’s it.”
10. KV Anand has apparently learnt a lot by watching Kamal’s movies. He had also referred to them while filming Anegan.
11. Both Vishakha and Nushrat said vanakkam on-stage. But not with the same panache as Kamal Haasan. And when he finally spoke, everybody was thrilled. Naturally.
