Every year, the festival of lights witnesses not less than half a dozen film releases. But this Deepavali, the number has come down to three films, all big budget. They are the Ajith-starrer Arrambam, the Karthi-starrer All In All Azhagu Raja and Pandiya Nadu featuring Vishal in the lead. There are no small films in the fray. Who knows, there may be one or two joining in at the last minute? S. R. Ashok Kumar takes a look at the festival line-up.
Arrambam
Cast: Ajith Kumar, Arya, Nayantara, Taapsee Pannu, Rana Daggubati, Mahesh Manjrekar, Atul Kulkarni, Suman Ranganathan, Kishore, Akshara Gowda, Prashant Nair and Lee Whittaker.
Direction: Vishnuvardhan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematographer: Om Prakash
Director's Cut: Ajith and I are coming together once again with this film after Billa 2 . The highlight of Arrambam is Ajith has performed all the stunts himself. As the film has a huge star cast, I wanted justice done to all their roles. This is the most expected movie of the year and all I can say is watching Arrambam will surely be a different experience.
All in All Azhagu Raja
Cast: Karthi, Kajal Aggarwal, Santhanam, Prabhu, Saranya Ponvannan
Direction: M. Rajesh
Music: S. Thaman
Cinematographer: Sakthi Saravanan
Director’s Cut: With a liberal dose of comedy, All in All Azhagu Ra ja will be an out-and-out family entertainer. All my earlier films are light-hearted, and I have explored situational comedy in All in All Azhagu Raja . With Santhanam and Karthi at the helm, one can expect a blast — a 10000-wala comedy firework! Another interesting aspect is Kajal Aggarwal plays a powerful role as Chithradevi Priya in the film. I am getting positive feedback from those who have seen the rushes.
Pandiya Nadu
Cast: Vishal, Lakshmi Menon, Bharathiraja, Sharath Lohitashwa, Vikranth, Soori, Somasundaram, Harish, Amudeswar, Krithi B. Shetty, Sowmiya, Thulashi, Tharun Master and Muthuraman.
Direction: Suseenthiran
Music: D. Imman
Cinematographer: Madhie
Director’s Cut: Pandiya Nadu is a revenge story and we have shot the film in 4k resolution, hence there will be greater clarity. The action sequences will be of top order. The story revolves around a youth, played by Vishal, who is averse to violence but is forced to embrace it due to circumstances. I am happy that director Bharathiraja has played the role of Vishal’s father. Another first is Lakshmi Menon has been teamed up with Vishal.
