The venue, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, was packed to capacity. The event was planned just a day earlier and despite limited publicity, word was out that A.R. Rahman would be performing live with his team of singers to officially launch the music of Kadali (dubbed version of the forthcoming Mani Ratnam film Kadal ).
The Rahman-Mani Ratnam partnership goes back by two decades. As though paying an ode to his guru, Rahman opened his performance with a medley on the keyboard, playing the tunes of Chinni Chinni Aasa ( Roja ) and Vinara Vinara ( Roja ) before addressing the audience, who by then were in raptures.
The albums of both the Tamil and Telugu versions have gone viral online and the crowd lapped it up when Sid Sriram and group crooned Yadike and Harini and Abhay Jodhpurkar sang the melodious Pachchani Tota . All this while, Rahman was on the keyboard like a master craftsman at work, not once making the audience feel the absence of a full-fledged music troupe.
Suhasini Mani Ratnam and actor Arjun were the perfect hosts for the occasion, introducing the cast, crew and offering insights into the film. Karthik (Murali as he was known in Telugu) came on stage to introduce his son Gautham Karthik for the first time to the public. Actress Radha was emotional when she spoke about her younger daughter Thulasi Nair, who makes her debut with Kadali . Arjun and Arvind Swamy have key roles in the film. Lakshmi Manchu’s excitement was evident on stage when she spoke about working with Mani Ratnam.
The event saw the launch of the first theatrical promo of Kadali . Mani Ratnam, being a man of few words, let his team do the talking. The film releases on February 1.
