-
of pouring milk on cutouts of Tamil Stars by the fans as
something weird.
I boarded a train from Mumbai with my family ( wife and son)
to join the Chennai office of the publication that reports on filmdom. As my
friend had arranged a flat to stay, I could move in straight away. After
reporting to my boss , got out to go on studio rounds. I had brought my scooter
along with me from Trivandrum. Being a Malayali and living in an area where Tamils are in plenty , Tamil cinema was nothing new. Every new Tamil film release got released simultaneously in the theater in my locality. The same
frenzy by fans as in Tamil Nadu took place in this theateres. Most of us who went
by Hindi and Malayalam films and idolized Rajesh Khanna Prem Nazir - Satyan- Jayan and Amitabh Bacchan found this
celebrations
Start: My Boss told me that all I had to do was to cross the
Kodambakkam bridge and keep going. He told me that all the studios are on this
stretch. I managed to find my way to Kodambakkam bridge and went over it and
kept on going. I saw nothing though I had
been riding for half an hour. The first studio I saw was Vijaya Studio
and opposite it was Vijaya Gardens.
My first shock was that the watchman said that no press is
allowed inside as exclusive scenes were being shot. If I saw it the exclusivity
would be gone, he said. I told him that I had no camera with me. He still was
adamant. The oldest trick worked. I could smell booze on him. I told him that I
could pay for a quarter and he saluted me. From that day onward, we became
great friends. All I had to do was to ask him if any actors worth the while
were inside, he would give the info.
The shooting inside was of a Bhagyaraj film. It was a song
sequence. I did not know anybody on the sets. Yet another hurdle was a production hand guarding the gates of
the set. He told me to wait outside till the hero and heroine came out during
the break. As I sat under a tree, a production guy offered me buttermilk. I asked him what was so secretive
about the song being filmed. His answer stumped me. He said that the costumes
worn by the hero would be copied and duplicated by lesser heroes whose films
got released before this film. He said that one actor
called Arjun was master in this. So even the still photographer printed the
photos in a very secure photo studio and left no trace of it behind. I had heard about film being
copied at theater through video cameras and brought out as videos. It was the first
time that I heard about costume piracy!!!
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