What it is about…
Produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur of UTV Motion Pictures, this youthful comedy entertainer is directed by R. Kannan. The cast comprises Arya, Santhanam, Premgi, Hansika, Anjali, Nasser, Ali, ‘Chitra’ Lakshmanan and Sayaji Shinde. S.S.Thaman is the music director; Vidhesh, art director; Leo John Paul, editor; P.G. Muthiah, cinematographer; and John Mahendran of Sachin fame is the dialogue-writer. The audio of the film was released by director Bala and received by the whole unit.
Music highlights
There are six songs in the album. ‘Agalaadhey Agalaadhey’ is the 100th song of lyricist Karky. Sung by Vijay Prakash and Meha, it is an interesting number. Karky wrote his first song for Kannan’s earlier film. ‘Nee Thaandi Osthi Ponna,’ written and sung by Gana Bala, appeals. The other striking numbers in the album are ‘Arjuna Arjuna’ written by Thamarai and sung by Karthik and Suchitra and ‘Laila Laila,’ written by Na. Muthukumar and sung by Andrea Jeremiah. ‘Poyum Poyum,’ sung by Haricharan and Chinmaiyi, just about makes the grade. The theme music of Settai, sung by Devan and Alap Raju, is refreshing.
What they say…
Producers Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur:Settai is the Tamil remake of our super hit Hindi movie Delhi Belly . We entrusted the job to director Kannan who knows the medium very well. He has made the necessary changes to suit the Tamil audience and we are sure of its success. This is actor Santhanam’s fourth movie with us after Deivathirumagal, Kalakalappu and Thaandavam .
Director R. Kannan:Settai is my fourth film after Jayam Kondan, Kandaen Kadhalai and Vanthan Vendran . I take more than a year to come up with an original story. So I try to alternate making films based on my original story with remakes. When I handed over the script of Settai to the producers, they were happy with it. It was quite a challenge for me to adapt the daring theme of Delhi Belly to suit local tastes.
Hero Arya: When the director and dialogue-writer came to me, I was a bit hesitant about accepting the film. But when they discussed the screenplay with me, I got interested and agreed to it immediately. Anybody can enact my role, but Santhanam and Premji are apt choices for their roles. After Nan Kadavul , I was keen on doing a fun-filled entertainer and Settai has whetted my appetite.
Music director S.S. Thaman: The original Hindi film has a running time of 90 minutes without any songs in between. After watching it, I wondered what I could do in this film. When director Kannan narrated the script to me, I was glad that the remake was not only longer (two hours and ten minutes), it also had apt situations for songs. This inspired me to come up with catchy tunes. We decided that the songs should not exceed three and a half minutes — they should help take the narrative forward as the film is a laugh riot. I feel the songs will boost the appeal of the film.
