Weekend Preview: From ‘Sarkar 3’ To ‘Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen’

Saravanan Irukku Bayamaen:

Releasing: Friday, 12 May

Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen stars Udhayanidhi Stalin, Regina Cassandra, and Srushti Dange. The film is directed by Ezhil, who began his film career with Vijay’s Thullatha Manamum Thullum. In a recent interview, Enzil says the film incorporates a variety of genres, thanks to a formidable cast. 

“We have multi-genres including horror, comedy, and politics in our film with comedy battalions including Soori, Robo Shankar, Ravi Mariya, Chams, Madhumitha and Mansoor Ali Khan,” he tells Sify News. 

This is also Regina Cassandra’s second Tamil film this year, after the successful Maanagaram. “I have done commercial roles in Telugu. But this is my first out-and-out commercial outing in Tamil, and I had so much fun working in this film. The way the director has fleshed out my character, I was quite surprised myself,” Regina tells IANS.

Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen has music by D Imman and is produced by Udhayanidhi’s production house Red Giant Movies.

Lens:

Releasing: Friday, 12 May

Lens is a multilingual film about the travails of social media. First time director and actor Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan says he was inspired by the tragic story of Amanda Todd, a 15-year old Canadian girl who committed suicide after being blackmailed on social media. Radhakrishnan says the story left an indelible mark on his mind, prompting him to make his first independent film – Lens. 

Speaking to Silverscreen, Radhakrishnan says a Skype conversation with his acting teacher in the USA planted the seed for the story. He says, “He was a little drunk, I was a little drunk. We were talking about things in general. So, he said that we have YouTube, Skype, and so many other social media tools. Why not use them and make a film? It made sense because I thought of a story being told over Skype, two people are brought into it and how the entire story revolves around that. I brought in more characters and slowly I started developing my story.”

Lens releases in theatres one year after Radhakrishnan won the 19th Gollapudi National Film Award for Best Debut film. 

With music by GV Prakash and photography by SR Kathir, Lens is bankrolled by Grassroot Film Company.

Meri Pyaari Bindu:

Releasing: Friday, 12 May

Meri Pyaari Bindu looks like the perfect romantic-comedy for the weekend, with Ayushmann Khurrana’s infectious smile and Parineeti Chopra’s charm in tow. Directed by Akshay Roy, the film is a boy-girl romance set in the ’80s, laden with old Bollywood songs. 

The film’s trailer was released in parts. Each segment showed the lead pair’s layered relationship – from their first meeting as children to their playful times as adults. Parineeti plays the free-spirited and mischievous Bindu while Ayushmann plays Abhimanyu Roy, the textbook nerd who is devoted to her.

This film is also Parineeti’s appearance on screens after two years.  

Ayushmann as Abhimanyu Roy is a successful writer who gets fed up with the lack of critical appreciation and returns to his roots in Kolkata to write more meaningful literature. He decides on an old-fashioned love story, which is now, three years in the making. 

Sachin-Jigar’s music has already topped charts with Afeemi and Haareya. Parineeti even sings Maana Ke Hum Yaar Nahin, showing that her talents go beyond acting. What’s not so great is the cringeworthy moment when she jokingly tells Abhimanyu’s mother in heavily accented Tamil, “Wear it, it will be very comfortable and you will get maximum pleasure. Go go go, buy it now!”

Supposedly, her character does Tamil voiceovers. 

Sarkar 3:

Releasing: Friday, 12 May

Ram Gopal Varma’s political crime thriller is back with its third installment, continuing from where it left off. Amitabh reprises his role of the Maharashtrian politician Subhash Nagre, a Godfather-like protagonist loosely based on late politician Bal Thackeray. The first film was released in 2005 and the second in 2008, with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan playing the role of Anita Rajan. 

Sarkar 3 has Yami Gautam in a negative role for the first time. As Anu Karkare, she conspires and attempts to avenge the death of her father, and blames Nagre for it. Meanwhile, Nagre deals with his own personal battles with his volatile grandson Shivaji Nagre (played by Amit Sadh). Nagre makes new enemies and deals with other aides in this film.

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Speaking to Firstpost, Amitabh Bachchan said that the film must be treated differently as a lot can happen to a character after a gap of 12 years. “Circumstances that were there in 2005 with the kind of state, the issues and the problems that came up to Sarkar, are now different. This ageing is visible in the ageing of the main protagonist. Even I have aged from 2005 to 2017, so the temperament of his acts, his deeds or whatever he does, hopefully will convey that process of ageing,” he said. 

Meanwhile,RGV recently lost a copyright infringement case against writer Nilesh Girkar, who will now be credited as the writer for this film. 

Sarkar 3 also stars Ronit Roy, Jackie Shroff, and Manoj Bajpayee, and has music by Ravi Shankar.

Achayans:

Releasing: Friday, 12 May

A Malayalam thriller comedy film directed by Kannan Thamarakkulam (Aadupuliyattam), the film has a large cast with Jayaram, Prakash Raj, Unni Mukundan, Sanju Sivram, and Adil Ibrahim as the male leads and Sshivada, Anu Sithara, and Amala Paul as the female leads. 

Achayans is about a group of brothers on vacation who meet two girls. Amala Paul plays Rita, a tomboy who is on a road trip with one of her best friends, Prayaga, played by Any Sithara. The four achayans are the heroes of the film, but there are also parts where they turn into antagonists.

The film has music is by Ratheesh Vega, whose work complements the shooting locations of Edakochi and Vagamon. Fun fact: there’s a guest appearance by Mammootty. 

Ramante Edanthottam:

Releasing: Friday, 12 May

Directed by Ranjith Sanker, Ramante Edanthottam stars Malayalam cinema’s chocolate boy Kunchacko Boban, as well as Anu Sithara. The film is a romantic family drama that tries to capture the fun, frolic, and complexities of everyday lives. 

Speaking to Silverscreen, Kunchacko says, “Ramante Eden Thottam is about sustainable living. My character, Raman, is a man in his forties, who runs a beautiful resort in a mountain. The film revolves around the characters who visit this resort, and their life and their takeaways from this serene space. What urban life does to people and their personal relationships is also discussed in the film.”

Ramante Edanthottam has music by Bijibal. The supporting cast includes Aju Verghese, Muthumani, and Joju George.  

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