Aari was in a mood to tell all at the audio launch of Veththu Vettu. He patiently waited his turn, sitting through an hour and a half of thank yous and thank gods. When the hostess finally indicated to him that it was his turn to speak, he hesitated a bit. Walked to the microphone and took a deep breath.
As the audience slowly realised that this was something important, the hall grew silent. His voice belied his nervousness, shaking ever so slightly as he spoke. “As it’s Valentine’s day, I would like to be completely honest.” He said. “I have four important things to do today – thank someone, praise someone, apologise for someone and of course, talk about love.”
This hint was all it took for the videographers present to abandon Malavika Menon, who’d so far been the focus of their cameras and shift to Aari.
The praise was reserved for the composer of Veththu Vettu – Taj Noor. Aari peppered his speech with adjectives as he praised Taj. ‘Good music’ he said, before adding, “Great technology enthusiast.” Taj Noor’s stony facade cracked a little at that, and the barest hint of a smile peeked through.
Now that the praise was dispensed with, Aari moved to the thank you part of the show. “At a point when nothing seemed to go right in my career, Saran sir gave me an opportunity to assist him for the photoshoot of Modhi Vilayadu with Kajal Agarwal. It was a boon at that time. It gave me renewed hope to continue my career.”
Saran, also a guest at the event, smiled his thanks. Which turned to one of surprise when Aari began speaking about this Ajith film called Yennai Arindhaal.
“Many of you might have known about the tweet Silambarasan posted after he watched Yennai Arindhaal. It created a lot of controversy.” A few senior journalists rushed to the front of the room, the better to hear whatever it was Aari wanted to say. “I don’t know Silambarasan much. We’ve spoken maybe once when he helped to promote Nedunchaalai.”
Now that he had the attention of the entire audience, Aari faltered. “I know that some of you might have been offended by a part of his tweet. I would like to sincerely apologise on his behalf.” He finished.
An awkward silence descended over the venue. Aari’s frantic PR team watched helplessly from the sidelines, wondering exactly what was going to pop out from the stars’ mouth next.
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Unaware of all this, Aari blithely continued. “My friends Ganesh Venkatraman and Nisha got engaged recently. I didn’t know about it at all.” He said.
The few people that figured out that this was the ‘Big Reveal’ about Aari’s Love, made for the nearest exit. Actor Ilavarasan who till then had listened intently to Aari,brought out his iPhone.
Aari droned on, and we tuned him out. Till one particular sentence grabbed our attention. “I too am in love.”
Errant children were hushed up, someone handed the PR team bottles of water, and iPhones were kept away.
“I have a heroine in my life…but I’ll talk more about her later.” He said and walked away.
Leaving us all hanging.