A matter of choice
He came into the spotlight with the Jiiva-Bhavana-starrer Rameshwaram. Now, director Suba Selvam is doing a bilingual (Tamil and Telugu), Oru Mutham Oru Yutham ( OMOY ), with Uday Kiran (debut in Poi ) and Swetha Basu in the lead. “Generally, parents wish to get their child married to a person of their choice. But, in OMOY , Uday decides to choose the girl without upsetting his family. How he achieves this forms the theme of this love story,” says Selvam.
New role
Vimal has played totally different characters in four films — Pasanga, Kalavani, Thoonganagaram and Ethan . But, Meenakshisundaram in Pasanga and Arivazhagan in Kalavani remain his favourites. Now, Kalavani 's director Sargunan has once again cast him in Vaagai Sooda Va . Says Vimal, “In this film, I play a character from the 60s, Veluthambi, a teacher with a modern outlook.” Director Sargunan has created a village set near Aruppukottai to shoot most of the film. “The movie has love, sentiment and comedy in equal measure, with a strong message woven into the script. Inaya, a new face from Kerala, is the heroine — she plays a tea shop owner,” says Sargunan.
Actor turns director
At a time when many directors are also donning the greasepaint, here's one who gave up acting to try other aspects of filmmaking. After almost a decade of acting in teleserials, Premsai realised that his calling was screenplay, dialogue and direction. “Somewhere along the way, in my quest to follow a more creative path, I met Prabhu Deva who had seen some of my work on TV, including a couple of short films I had directed. I joined him as an associate director for the Telugu remake of Munnabhai MBBS . I scripted Villu and Wanted , and did some theatre with K. Balachander's troupe. Then came the big break, the Jayam Ravi-Hansika Motwani-starrer, Engeyum Kaadhal, where I worked as a co-director with Prabhu Deva and collaborated with Ravikannan for the dialogue. Now, I have a script ready, and the experience I gained working under Prabhu Deva has given me the confidence to strike out on my own,” says Premsai.
Action-oriented
Five films in Tamil Nadu and two in Malaysia comprise the track record of director Parameshwar. After Suryaparvai, 3 Roses, Looti, Vanakkam Thalaiva and Thavam , he has shed his directorial responsibilities, and written and produced a Tamil film entirely shot in Malaysia for which he has engaged all actors and technicians from that country. “Except, of course, the main villain — Varadaraju from Tamil Nadu. I have made this film to encourage the talented artistes and technicians of Malaysia and open a cross cultural dialogue between the two film industries,” says Parameshwar, whose Kaidhi is all about mother and brother sentiment. There is a liberal dose of action in the film. Besides, the villain will be seen shaking a leg to a ‘kuthu' number with Nagalakshmi ( Mynaa ). The others in the cast are Gandhipan, Yagu, Valli and Shamu from Malaysia.
Silence spells horror
Gaining valuable experience under directors such as Mahendran and T. Rajendar, Mohanraj makes his directorial debut with Mounamana Neram featuring Rishi, Krish and Daisy Shah. The story revolves around four boys and four girls who get stranded in a forest. “It is a love story laced with horror. I have based it on Manoj Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense . Here the hero plays the character portrayed by the child in the original, and the heroine, Bruce Willis'. The horror factor comes up only towards the climax. Till then, it will be a beautiful love story,” says Mohanraj.
