Tamil News

Here Are The Four New Cast Members Of Venkat Prabhu-STR’s ‘Maanaadu’

By Aparajitha Balu

Simbu starrer Maanaadu has finally taken shape over the last few weeks after several reports that the film was shelved. The political film’s producer V House Productions’ Suresh Kamatchi had taken to Twitter a few weeks back to announce the cast and crew of the film. Director-producer SA Chandrasekhar, actor-director Bharathiraja and actors Karunakaran and Premji have been roped in for crucial roles while Kalyani Priyadarshan co-stars alongside Simbu. The latest to join the crew are actors SJ Suryah, Daniel Annie Pope, YG Mahendran and Manoj K Bharathi.

In response to the announcement, the actors tweeted about being a part of the film.

Just yesterday, Venkat Prabhu, announced the name of Simbu’s character on the occasion of his birthday. He plays the role of ‘Abdul Khaaliq’ (meaning servant of the creator). Venkat Prabhu had earlier taken to Twitter to announce that fans and audiences could send in their name suggestions for the character Simbu would play in the film and that the best one would be picked. He also revealed that Simbu would essay a Muslim in the film.

We are yet to find out if it was a deliberate decision by the team to give the character, the film’s music director, Yuvan Shankar Raja’s Islamic name. The poster also had a quote by the character, “Dhairiyathai Vida Periya Achchuruthal, Yethiriku Edhuvum Illai” which translates to “There is nothing more intimidating than courage to your enemy”.

maanaadu-poster

On the technical front, Richard M Nathan will handle the camera, Yuvan Shankar Raja will compose music, Praveen KL will be editing, Sekar will helm art, and Rajeevan will be in charge of production design. Vasuki Bhaskar will handle costumes and Stunt Silva will choreograph stunt sequences.

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Meanwhile, Simbu will feature in UR Jameel’s Maha opposite Hansika Motwani, whose first look of which was recently revealed. Jameel mentioned that the actor would feature in the film for nearly an hour, refuting the news that he would play a small cameo in the film. He will also feature in the official remake of Kannada hit Mufti, directed by Narthan, co-starring Gautham Karthik.

He had also announced a trilingual Maghaa Maanaadu days after news broke out that he was dropped from Maanaadu. His father, actor-director T Rajendar told Silverscreen, “We are planning the film on a huge scale with a Rs 120 crore budget. It is an out-and-out entertainer like his previous films Manmadhan and Vallavan. It will release in Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu”.

He also added, “Direction is by Silambarasan TR and not by me, as some have speculated. The film will be produced by our company Chimbu Cine Arts, and will be a big project for us.” Since Maanadu is back on, Maghaa Maanadu is unlikely to happen.

Aparajitha Balu is a Alum at Silverscreen India, and can be reached by email at aparajitha@silverscreen.in