Tamil cinema has always had a good market in Kerala, even before the advent of nationwide release for regional language films. Most Malayalis understand Tamil fairly well. You never see a Tamil film getting dubbed into Malayalam for a theatre release, unlike Telugu or Kannada.
And some Tamil stars have huge fan following in Kerala. Vijay is one such star. So much so that a Malayalam film has been made about the fans of Vijay in Kerala. It is titled Pokkiri Simon – the reference is, of course, to Vijay’s 2007 blockbuster Pokkiri .
The film is directed by Jijo Antony and features Sunny Wayne in the title role. K. Ampady, a doctor-turned civil servant, has written the script.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It was during a visit to Chenkalchoola in Thiruvananthapuram that I first thought that there was scope for a film on fans of Vijay in Kerala,” says Ampady, whose first film
“Though I was aware that Tamil stars are loved by a large number of Malayalis, I was surprised by the way his fans adored Vijay.”
Many of the characters in the film, he adds, are based on real people. “There is even a man called Pokkiri Riyas,” he adds. “I met many Vijay fans before I started writing the script. His fans, I have found out, do a lot of social work, such as donating blood.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Some of the fans appear in the film too. “For the sequences involving crowds, we did not have to employ junior artists; we had enough real fans,” says Ampady. “The film has the blessings of Vijay; we had met his father S.A. Chandrasekhar in Chennai. The veteran director was happy to learn that a Malayalam film was being made about Vijay.”