Devi Sri Prasad and Vijay Antony may be two successful music directors who have been able to establish their individual spaces and identities in today’s film industry. However, not many know that both worked together for a considerable period of time initially and are good friends to this day.
Devi Sri Prasad, who made it a point to attend the audio launch function of Vijay Antony’s film Naan , with which the latter makes his debut as hero, said, “During those days, I had a scooty, and Vijay was a sound engineer with me. We would often work late into the night and then I would drop him home. On the way, we would discuss several topics and often, on reaching home, he would say, ‘Hey, I’ve composed a tune? Want to listen to it?’
Complimenting his pal for being successful, the music director defined success as being able to do what one wanted. “There may be people who are wealthy but still can’t do what they want. Vijay is someone who has always been able to realise his dreams. In the initial stages of our career, one day he announced that he wanted to buy a car. Normally, buying something like a car would take time. But not for Vijay, who bought one the very next day. The best part was he didn’t even know to drive it then!”
Bus tales
Actor Karthi and director Vetrimaran recently confessed about their boyish pranks at a press conference. Participating in the event organised by the team of Attakathi to announce the film’s status, the two regaled mediapersons with anecdotes about their school days.
Karthi, who showered praises on the movie, which is to hit the screens soon, said, “The hero of this film does a lot of things that reminded me of my school days. For instance, he travels on the footboard to show off to the girls travelling on the bus. When I was young, dad asked me to stop travelling by car and take the bus to school. He wanted me to know what life was all about. I was excited as I was in my tenth grade and at that age, the senior boys who hung from the footboard looked like heroes to me. At one point, they told me that I had reached that stage in life where I could be trained to travel on footboard. However, when I tried it the first time (I was plump then), another guy attempting to get on the bus asked me to move in as he said ten people could be accommodated in the space I was occupying. I gave up the idea of travelling on footboard once and for all.”
If Karthi’s narration had the audience in splits, director Vetrimaran’s was even more hilarious.
“ Attakathi is an attempt to present Chennai in its most realistic form. Some of the antics of the hero reminded me of my school days. Then, I would have to travel from Ambattur to YMCA, Nandanam. We would get dressed in casuals and have our school uniform in our bags. The idea was to pose as college students before girls,” he confessed. “The hero in this film falls for every girl he meets and despite being spurned repeatedly continues to fall in love with the same enthusiasm,” he said.
