Dream come true
While still in college, Sundeep Kishan was bitten by the acting bug, but knew that breaking into the highly competitive industry was going to be tough. So he did the next best thing — convincing Gautham Menon to take him in as an Assistant Director. He didn’t of course hide from Gautham that his ultimate aim was to act in films. “Being an AD with Gautham was like a huge launch pad for me. It gave me an instant identity when meeting producers and directors. As of today, while I have done three Telugu films and one Hindi ( Shor in the City ), Yaruda Mahesh (Tamil) is my first solo lead role. I have done a bilingual, Gundalu Godari (Telugu) / Maranthen Mannithen (Tamil), while another bilingual is under production,” says Sundeep, who plays a good-for-nothing youngster in the comedy thriller, Yaruda Mahesh .
The car story
When producer R. Ganesh (partner of ‘VTV’ Ganesh) came across a short film made by Su. Arunkumar as an entry for the Nalaiya Iyakkunar show on TV, he knew it had the potential of being developed into a full-length feature. “I asked Arunkumar to re-work it and he came back with a script for Pannaiyarum Padminiyum and suggested that I sign on Vijay Sethupathy as the driver Murugesan of the Premier Padmini car, the film’s central character,” says Ganesh. “ Pannaiyarum Padminiyum is a comedy, but I have not ignored the other aspects such as love and sentiment. Jayaprakash (JP) plays a landlord who dreams of owning a Premier Padmini belonging to a neighbouring landlord. Somewhere along the way, JP acquires the car but he doesn’t know to drive. Enters Vijay Sethupathy as the driver. We now realise that Padmini has a mind of its own. The others in the scheme of things are JP’s wife and a girl who eyes Vijay. The car is all set to take everyone for a jolly good ride,” says Arunkumar.
Direction only, for now
It is not easy to write, direct and act in the same film, as director Cheran has found out after Autograph, Pokkisham and Thavamai Thavamirindhu . Consequently, when Cheran decided to produce his next film, JK Enum Nanbanin Vazhkai , he decided to stick to his first love — direction. “It is definitely a strain to do both and it is difficult to do justice to either. When I have full control over the story and the script, I would like another actor to convey the essence of my film’s character. So I feel it’s best to stick to direction,” says Cheran who is making steady progress with the new film, details of which are under wraps at the moment.
Fun guaranteed
With Venkat Prabhu at the helm and his brother Premgi and actor Karthi in the cast, one can expect only fireworks of the funny kind. There’s Hansika Motwani to add glamour to the proceedings. After the action flick Alex Pandian, Karthi is attempting a full-on comedy role, he is reportedly adept at. With Pongal bringing him glad tidings in the form of a new born baby girl and reports of his latest film Alex Pandian faring well at the box office, Karthi is looking forward to providing fun to his fans with a rip-roaring role in Biriyani . “This is a comedy thriller. It is a city slicker kind of role, youngish and stylish to cater to the urban youth,” says Karthi who is on a short break to enjoy his new role as father.
