Director Gautham Vasudev Menon takes time off a hectic schedule to talk to Chennai Times about his forthcoming projects…
Minnale, his first movie, made heads turn. Kaakha Kaakha, his next, made people sit up and take note. From then on till Vaaranam Aayiram, Gautham Vasudev Menon has managed to churn out entertainer after entertainer with one thing in common — his magical touch. A touch that is evident in his next film Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya (VV), which is to hit screens in November. And if one is to go by a couple of songs that he has picturised, Gautham is well on his way to delivering another hit. Says Gautham, “VV is a feel good, bring-asmile-to-your-face sort of a love story. If the audience wants to listen to some good songs, watch some really nice visuals and experience some great chemistry between the lead pair, then they’ll like the film.” Needless to say, the movie, starring Simbu and Trisha, has already triggered huge expectations. But expectations and the pressures they bring along have never managed to curtail Gautham’s willingness to experiment. The man, while shooting VV by day, has also been busy shooting another film at night.
“I’m also making an all night film with no music and background score. The film, with Sameera Reddy and newcomers, has not been titled yet. It’s much smaller in terms of budget when compared to VV, the budget of which is around 15 crores,” he says.
Adds Gautham, “I’ve enjoyed working on this project because I had two really good
actors in Simbu and Trisha. Every time I said ‘start camera’, Trisha used to come alive. Simbu has been a revelation. I’ve seen Manmadhan and Vallavan and I know what he conforms to, but this is a complete change for him.”
But draw his attention to rumours that he wasn’t happy with Simbu initially and that the star had to do a separate photo shoot to convince him and he dismisses them with nonchalance. “It’s just like the other rumours, such as the one that I’m going out with Sameera Reddy. There’s absolutely no truth in such rumours. Actually, all the apprehensions were before we started the shoot, because when we went to the producers’ council for something else, someone there said, ‘Oh! You’re making a film with Simbu? He won’t come on time. For the first ten days, he’ll be there and then you’ll be waiting for him for the next six months. We finished this film in 60 days!
“What’s more, in Malta, we had early morning shoots. If I told Simbu to be there at 6.00 am, he would be there at 5.45 am. Normally, Simbu works during the night and sleeps through the day. But for me, he changed that around. And he’s such a good dancer, that he required no rehearsals,” explains Gautham. He goes on to add, “Just as I look forward to working again with Kamal sir and Suriya, I look forward to working with Simbu as well.”
The music for the film has been composed by A R Rahman. Observes the director, “You feel humbled when you walk in and out of Rahman’s studio. Rahman’s never uttered a bad word about anybody in the industry. There was great sync between us right from the word go. All the while, I knew that Ashutosh Gowarikar was waiting outside, as was Abbas Tyrewala. On one occasion, when I walked out of Rahman’s studio, Abbas was waiting for almost four hours. I felt really bad. Many of the inputs to Thamarai were from Rahman. I thought he wouldn’t interact and he’d let me handle it. But, he sat there and gave her suggestions when it came to choosing words. On the whole, it was a great experience working with him.”
Gautham has his hands full. The ace director gives details of his other projects, before deciding to sign off.
“I’m doing a Mahesh Babu film in December. It’s a big one, which is being produced by them. I’m also looking to do a Hindi film in June. And apart from these, I’m also doing the Telugu remake of VV straightaway.”
Regards Times of India
Simbucentral Flash Back Series !
The Picture shows how Lss Thalaivan Silambarasan Loved the art of Cinema. He was so devoted to the industry. At one time he even took oath in front of the god Nataraja , that he would never leave the industry without creating a history on his talents.
This was taken at the time of Enga Veetu Velan movie which was released in 1992 "24.01.1992" . It starred Silambarasan , Appa Thiru T.Rajendar , Selvaraj and Rekha.
This movie was a block buster and people entered the theatres just to see the glimpse of Silambarasan and his acting skills. His Acting Skills was hugely applaused by the crowd. He even danced few songs in that movie.
Regards the pic : The picture is a Copyright version of Simbucentral and any one who alters or uses without our permission will be subject to copyright violations.
This is a Fans Post. This does'nt carry any relationship with SimbuCentral. And the person as done this to show that Simbu is a fan of Thala Ajith and not for any thing else. Thala fans please understand that this is a tribute to Ajith.
Here after we will not use Simbucentral.com in pictures. Instead we will use the Official Symbol of Silambarasan as the trade mark. Any one who uses these pics and edits with their sites name on this will be prosecuted. The new Logo will be uploaded from the next article.
Funniest part "Danush" is acting in a movie called Kutty. Will Kutty compete Naai Kutti.. ; )
Direct from Admins Desk.
Hello My Dear Silambarasan Fans.
Simbucentral Team will from henceforth start a new series. FLASH BACK.
This series will bring back all the old memories of Simbucentral , Simbu fans , Simbu fans federation and All India Simbu fans federation.
We will also give you exclusive pictures, and contents. That no one can give it to you.
The Flash back series will be promoted in Facebook groups too.
Every sunday you will get to see a new Flash back or probably twice a week. We promise you exclusive stuffs and we will keep the word.
Regards
President
International Silambarasan Fans Federation
Hariharan Gajendran
Hi all.
I am proud, I am happy , i am possesive to say this , Simbucentral has stood up for 2 decades now.
We have seen many changes. We have seen many interference. Still we are here. For a simple reason. Thalaivan Lss Silambarasan.
We started ourselves in yahoo groups , which was hacked later in 2008. Then we started with our own website simbucentral.com which was again hacked by haters.
Later we maintained a strict team and a strict routine to show case our knowledge on Thalaivan . And here we are. With constant updates . We never Miss a single article.
We have seen Politics on running the website. But with all your supports. We are only happy to produce more updates.
Now We have planned to launch a website instead of blog site. So people always use www.simbucentral.com to open the site.
We will come up with the site very shortly. And to pronounce the sites name to every simbu fan. Coz there are vicious eyes who are taking simbu fan for granted.
Thanks again for all your support.
Yours Admin
Hariharan Gajendran
President
International Silambarasan Fans Federation
Tamilargalin Thaagam Tamil EEla Thaayagam.
v
Controversy’s favourite child is enjoying his new role these days. His first on screen craze — fighting 10 goondas at the same time — has taken a backseat. His second love — delivering punch dialogue after dialogue — no longer holds the same fascination that it used to. Silambarasan aka Simbu has a new muse, and that’s love!
He longs to strum the guitar, sing love songs and go down on his knees for his ohso-pretty girl… all in his upcoming film Vinnaithaandi Varuvayaa (VTV). Call it the Gautham Menon effect! “I’m not planning to do too much of mass or commercial films in the next couple of years, and am planning to concentrate on love.
I guess people will like to watch me falling in love,” says the actor. He might have done a fullof-masala Kaalai and followed it with a commerciallyviable Silambattam, but currently, the actor is thoroughly enjoying a tug at his heartstrings.
According to him, VTV’s recent schedule at Malta, where the team picturised a couple of songs tuned by Oscar winner A R Rahman, will be a sure-shot winner with the audience. “Malta was such a superb place,” he recalls, “Except for the heat, everything about the shoot was perfect. We’ve explored a lot of virgin locations for the song sequences that have come out very well. I’m sure that Bollywood will hit Malta soon…”
Simbu’s co-star in the film is Trisha, an actress who has been linked with him in recent times. So, what does he have to say about it? “The press loves me so much that they couldn’t bear to see me single! So, they decided to link me up with Trisha. For the record, Trisha is a good friend and it was great working with her.”
Mood swings are an integral part of Simbu’s life and his eccentricities are just a part of that. “I’m a little weird,” he says with a straight face, “My mood swings depend on the script that I’m doing and where it’s taking my character. Sometimes, I love listening to hiphop songs and suddenly you’ll find me listening to slow love songs. And then, it’ll be dappankutu songs… it goes on like that, depending on what my character is doing in the movie I’m working on at that point of time.”
Post VTV, Simbu will be playing to his ‘loverboy’ image minus the shades of grey or innocence that he revealed in Manmadhan and Vallavan respectively. It’ll be Vaaliban next! “It will detail one episode in a youngster’s life. VTV will give me a new image and I’ll play it up in Vaaliban too,” he says.
But, one project that’s always on his mind is Manmadhan 2 (M2), a sequel to his superhit 2004-starrer Manmadhan. “There is so much negativity in our everyday life that we choose to ignore,” he says, adding, “In M2 I will show what Chennai is today when it comes to issues like love, sex and personal behaviour. My lead character will expose all the corruptness and the perverted nature that youngsters today have.”
TREASURE IN MALTA Simbu is known for his eccentricities and here’s one of them. While shooting at Malta, the actor put in some money in a bottle and hid it near some rocks. Why’s that? “I might go there after many years with my kids,” he says, “And, I’ll tell them that I hid this bottle and ask them to take the money for themselves. Of course, assuming that it’s still there…”
Sruthi Hassan held a sneak preview of her debut film Luck
at the Four Frames Preview theatre in Chennai on Friday (July 18) night.
Kamal Hassan, Gowthami and Sruthi’s close friends were seen at the theatre. Director of the film Soham Shah and Priyadarshan were also present at the screening.
Remember that Shruti is making quite an unconventional debut, which will see her doing tough action scenes with veterans like Sanjay Dutt and Mithun Chakravarthy.
The only Kollywood celebs at the screening were director Gautham Menon and Thalaivan Lss Silambarasan.
After the show, everyone congratulated Shruti for an outstanding performance and the buzz is that the film is racy and packaged smartly which will appeal to today’s audiences.
Regards: Movie buzz "sify " for text.
Gautham Menon is trying to investigate who is behind rumours about his fall out with A.R Rahman? We caught up with the ace director for this conversation
How is Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya progressing?
The film is moving at brisk pace. We are going to New York for a schedule where some crucial scenes of the film including climax will be shot. We also plan to shoot a song there.
The rumour mill says that you had a fall-out with AR Rahman, the music director of the film. Please comment?
Some vested interest has been spreading all kinds of lies that I have fallen out with Rahman over payment issues. On the contrary we are on the best of terms, as he has given outstanding music for VV. I will hand over the film to him in August and he will start re-recording and background score. We plan to release the film for Diwali. ARR has composed three extraordinary songs which have already been shot. They are of international quality and he will be recording the next two songs soon.
When did you last meet Rahman?
Recently, I met Rahman at his home in his Los Angeles and the first thing he asked me was about this baseless rumour doing the rounds. He asked me why people are writing such crap without checking facts with us. Let me tell you that Rahman signed Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya much before he won the Oscars, after hearing the script. He was impressed by the simple, feel-good love story. And after winning the Oscars and going truly International, he did not increase his fee as he knows the Tamil film market and the logistics more than anyone.
Can you elaborate on the songs?
Hosanaa, sung by Vijay Prakash ( Jai Ho.. fame) with Thamarai’s lyrics and a rap by Blaze will be a sure hit among the young crowd for its peppy beats and stunning visuals shot by Manoj Paramahamsa at Malta with stylized choreography by Flexy Stu. The second song Omana Penne… written by Thamarai and sung by A R Rahman himself, holds a style of its own.
What is the budget of Vinnai thaandi Varuvaaya?
We have shot the film on a large scale and the budget will be around 14 Crore. It is a big budget film shot in some exotic locales of New York, Malta and Kerala. It is a stylishly shot love story.
Both Simbu and Trisha have a new look in the film?
Simbu has 2 or 3 looks in the film. Trisha looks fresh and wears mostly cotton saris in the film. After Minnale, it will be my next out and out love story with outstanding music, a feel good romantic entertainer .
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