The Hindu : Front Page : Three stars over Chennai

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Saturday, Apr 26, 2008
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Three stars over Chennai

Meera Srinivasan

— Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

Celebrities came together in Chennai on Friday at the audio CD release of Tamil film Dasavatharam. In the photograph, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi blesses actor Kamal Hassan as Hollywood and Bollywood stars Jackie Chan and Amitabh Bachchan applaud.

CHENNAI: It was a meeting of Hollywood, Bollywood and Kollywood. Jackie Chan, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan electrified Chennai for a few hours at the audio launch of Dasavatharam on Friday.

Jackie Chan instantly hit it off with Chennai’s film-lovers. He deployed not only his endearing smile and occasional bows, but also his humour. The action hero said he was willing to work with Tamil filmdom’s romantic hero, Kamal Haasan. On one condition, though. “He can do all the action, I’ll do the love scenes,” he said.

Karunanidhi’s take

Of all the felicitations offered for Jackie, the one that had the most details was by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who launched the audio CD of the film. The speech highlighted the milestones in the Hong Kong-born actor’s career. “It is noteworthy that an actor of international repute known for his prowess in action considers fire service personnel to be real heroes,” he said.

He also made an interesting comparison between Jackie and Kamal. He pointed out that both were born in the year 1954 and both took to films when they were children.

Amitabh Bachchan said Kamal was an “exceptional co-artiste.” He added: “Kamal always springs surprises. Jackie Chan and I saw a trailer at the hotel we are staying in and we were in complete awe.”

Kamal said he and director K.S. Ravikumar had been reluctant to give out information about the film. They wanted the suspense to remain.

The other stars on the stage, like the members of the audience, seemed to be there for only one purpose. “I am basically here to see all these stars,” Malayalam actor Mammooty said. “We work really hard to play one role and here is an actor who has played 10 characters. It is amazing,” he said.

Actors Hema Malini, Jayapradha, Asin and Mallika Sherawat, also on the dais, drew huge rounds of applause when they spoke. Mallika, who got onto the stage with her one-time co-artiste Jackie, made sure she was beside him when he made his speech at the podium. Apparently, she wanted to help him get the Indian names right.

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