With Mass , Suriya seeks a comeback

After a disastrous outing with Anjaan , actor Suriya is hoping for a comeback at the box-office with Mass , directed by Venkat Prabhu on May 29. The trailer and publicity material of the film indicates that it could be a horror film, but would nevertheless retain the style that has made Venkat Prabhu’s films click. “Like my previous films, Mass is also a movie for the guys,” Venkat Prabhu announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

Venkat Prabhu said that while he could be known for making films about men letting loose, Mass is his cleanest film till date. “There is no item song, none of the characters smoke on screen, nobody will make fun of women,” he said.

With the trailer featuring Suriya with sharp fangs, questions have been posed about whether it is inspired by ‘vampire movies’.

Venkat Prabhu clarified that it was not so. Suriya, however, said that it indeed a ‘spooky’ film. The filmmaker hinted that ‘Mass’ has been conceived as a ‘summer’ film made with the intention of entertaining large sections of the audience.

The filmmaker said that it was also one of his toughest projects till date. “With Suriya in the film, who has a habit of asking pertinent questions in the narration, I had to be prepared. For this film, I roped in a writer who had worked with renowned Telugu filmmaker Rajamouli to help me with the script. The film also has a lot of CG,” he said.

Asked if

Mass was also an escapist fantasy, where men are desperate to get rich and hope to get lucky with women, the filmmaker replied that there is nothing wrong with having such aspirations.

“In Saroja , Mankatha and Chennai 28 , the protagonists weren’t womanisers or desperate to get rich. Even in Biriyani , the problems began for the protagonist because he was a womaniser. With Goa , I wanted to make an adult comedy like ‘American Pie’ and we found out that the audience is not ready for that kind of a film,” he said.

Insisting that he only appeals to collective conscience of the youth in his audience, he said, “What is wrong with aspiring to get rich? At the end of day, it is about the money. We all can pretend that we work for the love of our jobs, but the truth is, we do it for the money.”