Nature plays an important part in director James David’s Panivizhum Malarvanam . While he has shot the film extensively in exotic locations such as Kumili and Thekkady, a tiger and a cub are the important characters in the story. “It is the same tiger that has been part of Hollywood films such as Hangover 2 . We provided the story board to the creators of the footage and they gave us all we needed to integrate into our storyline. Using computer graphics we were able to segue their footage with the fresh footage we shot here. The CG work has been going on for the last four months and I am happy with the way it is shaping up. Panivizhum Malarvanam is also a romantic story with parental love forming a great part of it. The tiger, incidentally, is crucial to this relationship thereby proving that emotions are similar, be it humans or animals, when it comes to parental love. Yet another character integral to the story is a tree, for which I had to do a lot of scouting in the forests,” says James David. Abhilash and Sania play the lead.
Boy-next-door
If the trend in recent films is for the heroes to go in for a rustic look, here is someone who tries to reverse it. “Not deliberately,” clarifies Aadhi. “My brother Sathya Prabhas came up with this awesome script of a modern, boy-next-door character and I was floored. I thought it would suit my image. This is a bilingual in Telugu (not yet titled) and Tamil ( Yaagavaraayinum Naa Kakka ). The heroine is Nikita who is currently shooting for the Kannada version of Paiyya . A home production, Yaagavaraayinum Naa Kakka is a romantic comedy in the first half and an action thriller in the second. It is Sathya’s first film after his education and training abroad in filmmaking,” says Aadhi who is eagerly looking forward to his part in Kochadaiyaan .
Enter Akshay Akkineni
Cinema is in his blood, considering that he is from the famous Akkineni family. “But, I would like to chart a course for myself and prove my credentials in the industry,” says Akshay Akkineni. Being a son of popular film editor Sreekar Prasad has no doubt helped. “Yes, I did learn the technical nuances of filmmaking from my father. But, where I really honed my directorial skills was while working with Vishnuvardhan and Bejoy Nambiar (on David ),” says Akshay. Obviously, his skills have convinced Bejoy who has signed up Akshay for his forthcoming Hindi remake of Pizza . “The script has been tweaked to suit the Hindi audience, but the essence of the story remains. Although we have finalised some of the cast, it is a bit early to reveal their names. I can only say that the music will be scored by four different composers to ensure variety in style to suit the script,” says Akshay.
Keen to be part of good films
Ganesh Venkatraman relies on his instinct while choosing roles. Not one to hanker only after lead roles, Ganesh says, “It is very difficult to come across a good script, especially with the combination of a good director and an established production house. I always believe that until the day when films run on my name, my name has to be in films that run well.” Good thinking, indeed. Ganesh ensures that he gives whatever role he plays his all. “I am looking forward to the success of Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru , Chandra and Ivan Veramathiri ,” says Ganesh who was earlier seen in films such as Abhiyum Naanum and Unnaipol Oruvan .