What it is about…
Rajkumar Theatres’ Malini 22 Palayamkottai has screenplay and dialogue by yesteryear actor Sri Priya who has also directed the film. Manoj Pillai is the cameraman, Bavan Sreekumar is the editor, Aravind-Shankar are the music directors, Na. Muthukumar is the lyricist and Prem Navas, the art director. Malini 22 Palayamkottai is an entertainer with a message. The audio of the film was released by Kamal Haasan and received by Suriya.
Music highlights
The album has six numbers and the best is ‘Matharthammai’ sung by Karthik and Sri Priya with supporting vocals provided by Haritha, Kamalaja and Nirjari. There is also a remix version of this song by Nithya Menen and Sri Priya. ‘Vinmeengal’ is sung by Sakthishree Gopalan, to the accompaniment of ukulele, a Hawaiian folk instrument. ‘Kanneer Thuliye’ sung by Vijay Yesudas, is pathos-filled with a traditional and complex arrangement. The same song comes as a duet by Vijay Yesudas and Nithya Menen. ‘Hi My Name Is’ is in punk rock style and is sung by Nithya Menen, Kovai Sarala, Vidyullekha Raman, Harshitha Krishnan and Malavika Manoj.
What they say…
Producer Rajkumar Sethupathy: I have acted in around 40 movies and then ventured into the real estate business. I floated Rajkumar Theatres when I was acting. I have a daughter Sneha Sethupathy and a son Naagarjun. My wife, actor Sri Priya, took a break from the industry to take care of them. Now that my daughter is studying law at Warwick University, London, and my son is in Standard Eleven, she decided to remake the Malayalam film 22 Female Kottayam in Tamil. And I decided to produce it. She has tweaked the screenplay to suit the audiences in Tamil and Telugu.
Director Sri Priya: I have acted in as many as 300 films in all the south Indian languages and directed three films in Tamil and two in Kannada. Today we read a lot about crimes committed against women. When I saw the Malayalam film, I wondered how I could do my bit for society. That’s when I decided to remake it in Tamil. I do not want women to cry helplessly, but rise against such atrocities. After watching the film, if at least one person changes his attitude towards women I will be happy.
Hero Krishna J. Sathar: I am the son of popular star Jayabharathi and Sathar. I finished engineering and then pursued my MBA in London. My job took me to different places in the world. When I was in New York, I acted in Broadway plays. When I came back, director Siddique offered me an important role in Ladies and Gentlemen , a Mohanlal film. Suresh Balaji who saw this film suggested my name to Sri Priya. As I was born and bred here it wasn’t difficult for me to work in a Tamil film. I consider myself fortunate to get such a challenging role early on in my career.
Music directors Aravind-Shankar: We have been working together for 15 years. We composed the song ‘Yamini Yamini’ in Vasanth’s directorial venture, Yei Nee Romba Azhaga Irukke . We are the music directors for Oorukku Nooru Per directed by popular editor Lenin and Ishaq in Telugu directed by Vikram Kumar. The musical score for Chennai Super Kings’ ‘Whistle Podu’ is also by us.
