Reporting by Janani K; Photos by Sriram Narasimhan. Photos from the press meet are below the report.
9 am. Sathyam Cinemas. Enthusiastic Vijay Sethupathi fans are jumping for joy. The Sethupathi audio launch is about to begin. Thegidi music director Nivas K Prasanna, singer Vandana Srinivasan, and a team are rehearsing for the live performance.
The celebrities make their way into the hall. 10:30 am. Host Anjana finally kicks off the event. The live concert is followed by music from Sethupathi. Three songs. Three genres. Actor Siddharth nods to the beat, as as Nivas, MK Balaji and their team perform ‘Naa Raaja’. Loud applause at the end.
Then there’s whistling from the audience. The teaser is screened. Two more songs are screened. Then come the speeches.
Unlike every other audio launch, where the music director is first lauded as the ‘hero’, and then quickly forgotten, the Sethupathi cast and crew talk about Nivas. Every speech is a speech of appreciation for his music, his work.
Sibiraj compliments Vijay Sethupathi’s look, and calls him the ‘agmark Tamil Nadu police officer’. He also calls Nivas the ‘Raja of BGMs’. Director and writer Karu Palaniappan generously declares that the success of director Arun Kumar and Vijay Sethupathi is bigger than his own. Siddharth echoes him. To general amusement, he says, “At one point, I would call up Arun Kumar, Karthik Subbaraj, and Nalan Kumarasamy for a possible collaboration. They all had the same reply. They were too busy working for a movie with Vijay Sethupathi. Vijay Sethupathi repeats his directors. I even discussed with Nasser sir and Vishal to build a separate Nadigar Sangam for Vijay because of the number of films he is doing.” Jokes aside, “I feel very happy to see my friends Arun Kumar and Vijay Sethupathi climbing the ladder of success.”
Karthik Subbaraj, who has twice collaborated with Vijay Sethupathi, says Sethupathi looks like a Pizza sequel. Both have Vijay Sethupathi and Remya Nambeesan as the lead pair.
It’s time for the man of the day to speak. Nivas K Prasanna says, “I used to always be in my comfort zone. Arun Kumar brought me out of it. He knows music and he understood my thinking.” The film is named after only one of them, but both Remya Nambeesan and Vijay Sethupathi say that Sethupathi is an important film in their respective careers. Vijay Sethupathi and Arun Kumar had to work hard to get the cop look right. Vijay says, “I had inhibitions about whether I could pull off the khakhi outfit. Later, when I was groomed with the moustache, I knew I could fit the bill.” The things a moustache can do.
