Text View:
A GALAXY OF STARS
MULTI-STARRERS SEEM TO BE THE WAY FORWARD FOR KOLLYWOOD…
Sreedhar Pillai | TNN
Kollywood’s traditional solo super hero films are undergoing a metamorphosis. From the days of MGR to now, big heroes refused to do multi-starrers saying vaguely that their fans would not enjoy other heroes hogging the limelight too. Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan did nearly a dozen films together early in their career in the late 1970s, but after they were anointed superstars, they refused to work together.
But now, all that is fast changing after the failure of a couple of superstar films and the success of multi-starrers in other languages like Raajneethi (Hindi), Pazhassi Raja (Malayalam) and Vedam (Telugu). Sarath Kumar, chief of the Nadigar Sangam, has been harping that multistarrers is the way forward for Tamil cinema.
Sarath Kumar, in an interview, said, “Multistarrers are working very well in other languages. I worked with Mammootty in Pazhassi Raja and am now working with Mohanlal in Christian Brothers. Everybody knows what their roles were. At the end of the day, we are all working for the commercial success of the film.” Sarath Kumar has a point as in Bollywood and in other languages, several producers are opting for multi-starrers.
Sarath Kumar feels that Tamil directors should come forward to make films with multiple heroes, keeping their image in mind and packaging it well at the same time. Says Bharath, who is doing Vaanam with Simbu, “I had earlier done a multi-starrer — Pattiyal — with Arya and it was not only a nice experience but also a hit. As far as Vaanam is concerned, everything has been worked out perfectly.” Maddy, who is just back from Europe after the first schedule of Manmadhan Ambu, says, “It’s a pleasure to work with Kamal Sir. We had earlier done Anbe Sivam, which is one of the best films I have done.” More multi-starrers are in the pipeline. Concluded a trade analyst, “Why is Shankar — a director who has worked in only big-budget single hero films — committing to do the remake of 3 Idiots, which is a multi-starrer? Venkat Prabhu’s Mangaatha has become the hottest film in the circuit overnight as it has Ajith and Nagarjuna boosting its business prospects. Multi-starrer films are going to be the future as they definitely have an edge over solo-hero films.”
Source: Times of India (Dated: 22-7-2010)