Text by Niveda Manohar, Photos by Dani Charles and PR Wire.
Fans called it the ‘Theri’fic Sunday.
Sathyam Cinemas saw a crowd, quite unusually large even for a Sunday evening. There was a maddening rush outside the red carpet area, as people jostled around the small entrance to make their way into the Sathyam screen. As we waited for the event to begin, different images from the film were being screened, garnering cheers and whistles from fans who thronged the balcony area.
As the guests kept trickling in, the lyric video of the song ‘Chella Kuttie’ played, and the decibel level from the fans section began hitting the roof. Undoubtedly. More so because the song has been sung by none other than Vijay himself.
Highlights from the event.
- Actress Meena and her daughter Nainika were the first to take to the stage. Meena said that she felt quite apprehensive about allowing her child to act, given that she was just 5 years old. But the actress had to agree as the role had so much importance, which is unheard of for any child artiste. Nainika, on the other hand, felt quite dazed with the attention she was getting. Even her ‘Hi’ received a huge cheer from the crowd. Imagine how it would’ve been when she said “Vijay uncle ennoda favorite”!
- ‘Naan Kadavul’ Rajendran, the only other actor apart from Vijay to feature in the teaser of the film, was welcomed on stage with roaring applause from the crowd. When asked about the ‘I am Waiting’ part of the teaser, he said that he was quite apprehensive about saying the dialogue, but Vijay have him the necessary nudge to do it.
- Actor Prabhu heaped praises on Vijay. Chandrasekhar and Shoba (Vijay’s parents) have brought up a great son, and Sangeetha (Vijay’s wife) has brought an ideal man out of him, said Prabhu. He also praised Atlee by calling him one of the finest young directors he has ever seen.
- Actor Nasser made his way to the function right after presiding over the Nadigar Sangam General Meeting. He said that he was attending the event as the father of an ardent Vijay fan. Apparently, his son Faizal looks up to Vijay as an inspiration. He thanked Vijay for all the help he has done, and added that Faizal, whenever he was feeling low, listened to the song “Ella Pugazhum Oruvanukke” from Vijay’s Azhagiya Tamizh Magan, and that motivated him to a large extent.
- Director Mahendran, who was the surprise inclusion to Theri cast, was someone everyone was excited to hear from. Following an AV on the veteran director’s various achievements, Mahendran walked onto the stage, with a slightly visible hesitation. As someone who has not fancied the limelight, he seemed quite shy, and introduced himself as a ‘Debutante’. With a pleasing smile he said “Acting is never something I expected to do. I recieved a phone call from producer Thanu. He said he had a favor to ask me. I decided without even knowing what it was, I would accept to do it. I feel embarassed to tell this, but when Thanu told me that I had shown the world through my cinema, and that he wanted to show me to the world, I agreed to do the film. But I was clean-bowled when I came to know that Vijay was more than happy to have me on board.”
- “Vijay is a very dedicated artiste. There was a particular stunt sequence that involved nails. the art director Muthuraj tried making dummies, but they did not give an original look, hence they decided to go for real ones. I was surprised that Vijay did not have a problem with it, and I also advised him to be careful” Mahendran added.
- “Even without knowing him personally, I admired Atlee for his work in Raja Rani. For him, to do just his second film with such big stars is a huge deal. To put it short, ‘Ketta Paiyyan sir indha Atlee‘ , the veteran director said, making a reference to the famous dialogue that Rajini says in his film Mullum Malarum.
- Amy Jackson arrived fashionably late today. Glad to have seen her hair long and straight, and not unfortunately styled like in the film. “I cannot believe I have got the opportunity to work with one of my favourite stars- Vee-jay. Atlee has given me a great image mako-ever, whether it be my look in the film, or the character itself. Vee-Jay is a dancer second to none, so it was tough to match up to him, but my choreographer Sherif helped me out in a big way” she said.
- Vijay’s fans seems to have just one job to do at this event – To cheer every time Vijay’s name was uttered by anyone on stage. And boy, did they do a great job of it. Although, the best moment was when one of them shouted “TR Varalaya?” Obviously they haven’t gotten over the Puli Audio launch. Cannot blame them, TR’s speech cannot be topped for a long time to come.
- GV Prakash, whose popularity has multiplied manifold post his acting stint, said, “This film is extremely important, not just because it is my 50th film, but it is Thalaivar’s film. My first priority while making the songs and the BGM was to make sure it would complement Vijay.”
- Kalaipuli Thanu, the proud producer of the film, remarked that Theri would go on to be the most successful film he has ever produced. “Baahubali, a Telugu film made history in Tamil Nadu, and the same way, Theri will break records in the Telugu states” he added.
- Atlee, who is just making his second film, is a very confident personality. “I basically do not have stage fear, but this is the first stage where I am feeling nervous. Many people spoke highly of me, but I want to thank Mahendran sir for his kind words, for he is my biggest inspiration.”
- “Many people asked me if Vijay was doing a triple role in the film. I can say in the film, there is a Romantic Vijay, a ‘Massy’ Vijay, and a Vijay that only very close friends and family know”, said Atlee. On working with Nainika, he said, “She was a delight to work with, but it took some convincing skills to make her do some scenes where she would just not do because she was sleepy.”
- “Samantha is like my Thambi, she has done an excellent job as Mitra in the film. Amy too, is a sincere performer”, said Atlee, who added, “I have been lucky to work with a generous producer like Thanu sir, who always makes sure i have enough resources to work with” he added.
- Finally the moment everyone waited for – it was time for Vijay’s speech. “Generally, at audio launches, music directors are the heroes, but today, we have a hero as our music director. I’m talking about the Thalaivar of many ‘Virgin Pasanga’ GV Prakash.” he said.
- “There are two heroines, one of them is a Selfie Pulla, the other is a Kulfi Pulla” said Vijay, mirroring the juvenile lyrics of one of the songs in Theri.
- “We all have seen documentaries on Discovery Channel where a tiger chases a deer, and finally pounces on it. If the name of the deer is Vettri (Success), then the name of the tiger would be Kalaipuli S Thanu” he said, evoking a fan to shout ‘Kavidha!‘ He also had a message for his fans, “I wish all my fans achieve many heights. Do not have others as your benchmark. Be benchmarks yourself”
- He also narrated a story about Chinese leader Mao, (although he called him the former president of Russia!) who once saw a small boy selling posters of his on the road and felt very proud. He walked up to the boy and said, “Even though you admire me a lot, you should also sell posters of other great leaders”. The boy replied, “The other posters have been sold out, only these are left unsold”. The same way, I wish that all of you give up on pride and work towards achieving your goals” said Vijay.
- Finally, he added, “You might think that I’m speaking things at random, but I do not like talking about myself in public, so I just share whatever comes to my mind. Bore adicha mannichukonga, Spark adicha ethukonga“
