SPB Charan peeved with Thala Ajith

 

Chennai, September 29:  Looks like SPB Charan is quite peeved with the fact that Thala Ajith did not convey his condolence or attend the funeral of his father. The issue gained traction on the social media after Thalapathi Vijay fans went berserk as their idol turned up at the farm house on the city outskirts to pay his last respects. This was used as an example of how sensitive their idol is to happening around him. A photo and a video went viral which showed Vijay picking up a slipper of a fan lying on the ground and handing it over to him. There was a melee as Vijay was leaving the funeral venue.

SPB Charan at the press meet to clear the air on the story doing the social media rounds that it was not the SPB fans in Andhra or Tamil Nadu and those abroad that paid for the final pending dues at the hospital but it was Vice President Venkiah Naidu who settled it. The details are given in another report filed in this blog. read ;https://southfilmy.blogspot.com/2020/09/after-state-honours-venkiah-naidu.html

Did Thala Ajith phone SPB Charan ?

At the press conference, SPB Charan was asked several questions about Ajith’s silence. Charan had this to say – “Let Ajith mourn from his house. So what?  There is no need for him to come and give his last respects? He is a friend of mine and so also of my Dad. Let him pay his condolences from anywhere. Is it a big issue? Why should Ajith phone me and convey his wishes? Please do not spread rumors. What if he felt sad while at home and phoned me? To me and my family, SPB is no more. It is a great loss for us. We need some time to be alone,”. At the end of the press meet, a visibly drained Charan said that his outbursts were not meant against anyone but generally an expression of grief.

SPB praised Ajith for his reclusive behavior

At a reality show in Star Vijay, SPB as judge said “"One quality that I like about Ajith is that he never gives interview for magazines or TV, He does not post comments on social media and create unnecessary controversy”. SPB who introduced Ajith in a Telugu film produced by him also spoke about the actor and his son Charan being friends “ Charan  and Ajith were class mates. They did their matriculation in Andhra. In his initial days, Ajith used to wear Charan's shirts and shoes for ad shoots over sentimental reasons," he revealed.

For and against Ajith’s behavior

Sports Commentator, quiz show host and participant in TV debates, Sumanth C Raman had without mentioning names tweeted -  "When those who benefited a lot more from #SPB songs than @actorvijay chose to stay away this was a heartwarming gesture by Vijay. Respect indeed. ??". The tweet saw director Venkat Prabhu (who had directed Ajith and close friend of SPB Charan) offering his pranam. Ajith fans had raised their voice against this tweet. To this Raman tweeted – “There is no disrespect meant to anyone. It is their choice to go or not especially with Covid around. I am just pointing out a fact. But why are only fans of one particular star getting agitated and abusive?? So many didn't go."

Ajith has no social media handles and only lately he announced that his manager Suresh Chandra is his official spokesperson. Nayanthara , like Ajith keeps away from film promotions and the media. However she has a SM handle and all her outings with her BF Vignesh Shivn gets covered in full detail with photos (posted by the couple or the paparazzi). She too posted a condolence message. Kamal Haasan made it to the hospital on the evening before the death of SPB. All others issued condolences. Bharathiraaja ,the veteran director on the funeral day and previous night was present with singer Mano.Chennai, September 29:  Looks like SPB Charan is quite peeved with the fact that Thala Ajith did not convey his condolence or attend the funeral of his father. The issue gained traction on the social media after Thalapathi Vijay fans went berserk as their idol turned up at the farm house on the city outskirts to pay his last respects. This was used as an example of how sensitive their idol is to happening around him. A photo and a video went viral which showed Vijay picking up a slipper of a fan lying on the ground and handing it over to him. There was a melee as Vijay was leaving the funeral venue.

Did Thala Ajith phone SPB Charan ?

At the press conference, SPB Charan was asked several questions about Ajith’s silence. Charan had this to say – “Let Ajith mourn from his house. So what?  There is no need for him to come and give his last respects? He is a friend of mine and so also of my Dad. Let him pay his condolences from anywhere. Is it a big issue? Why should Ajith phone me and convey his wishes? Please do not spread rumors. What if he felt sad while at home and phoned me? To me and my family, SPB is no more. It is a great loss for us. We need some time to be alone,”. At the end of the press meet, a visibly drained Charan said that his outbursts were not meant against anyone but generally an expression of grief.

SPB praised Ajith for his reclusive behavior

At a reality show in Star Vijay, SPB as judge said “"One quality that I like about Ajith is that he never gives interview for magazines or TV, He does not post comments on social media and create unnecessary controversy”. SPB who introduced Ajith in a Telugu film produced by him also spoke about the actor and his son Charan being friends “ Charan  and Ajith were class mates. They did their matriculation in Andhra. In his initial days, Ajith used to wear Charan's shirts and shoes for ad shoots over sentimental reasons," he revealed.

Chennai, September 29:  Looks like SPB Charan is quite peeved with the fact that Thala Ajith did not convey his condolence or attend the funeral of his father. The issue gained traction on the social media after Thalapathi Vijay fans went berserk as their idol turned up at the farm house on the city outskirts to pay his last respects. This was used as an example of how sensitive their idol is to happening around him. A photo and a video went viral which showed Vijay picking up a slipper of a fan lying on the ground and handing it over to him. There was a melee as Vijay was leaving the funeral venue.

SPB Charan at the press meet to clear the air on the story doing the social media rounds that it was not the SPB fans in Andhra or Tamil Nadu and those abroad that paid for the final pending dues at the hospital but it was Vice President Venkiah Naidu who settled it. The details are given in another report filed in this blog.

Did Thala Ajith phone SPB Charan ?

At the press conference, SPB Charan was asked several questions about Ajith’s silence. Charan had this to say – “Let Ajith mourn from his house. So what?  There is no need for him to come and give his last respects? He is a friend of mine and so also of my Dad. Let him pay his condolences from anywhere. Is it a big issue? Why should Ajith phone me and convey his wishes? Please do not spread rumors. What if he felt sad while at home and phoned me? To me and my family, SPB is no more. It is a great loss for us. We need some time to be alone,”. At the end of the press meet, a visibly drained Charan said that his outbursts were not meant against anyone but generally an expression of grief.

SPB praised Ajith for his reclusive behavior

At a reality show in Star Vijay, SPB as judge said “"One quality that I like about Ajith is that he never gives interview for magazines or TV, He does not post comments on social media and create unnecessary controversy”. SPB who introduced Ajith in a Telugu film produced by him also spoke about the actor and his son Charan being friends “ Charan  and Ajith were class mates. They did their matriculation in Andhra. In his initial days, Ajith used to wear Charan's shirts and shoes for ad shoots over sentimental reasons," he revealed.

For and against Ajith’s behavior

Sports Commentator, quiz show host and participant in TV debates, Sumanth C Raman had without mentioning names tweeted -  "When those who benefited a lot more from #SPB songs than @actorvijay chose to stay away this was a heartwarming gesture by Vijay. Respect indeed. ??". The tweet saw director Venkat Prabhu (who had directed Ajith and close friend of SPB Charan) offering his pranam. Ajith fans had raised their voice against this tweet. To this Raman tweeted – “There is no disrespect meant to anyone. It is their choice to go or not especially with Covid around. I am just pointing out a fact. But why are only fans of one particular star getting agitated and abusive?? So many didn't go."

Ajith has no social media handles and only lately he announced that his manager Suresh Chandra is his official spokesperson. Nayanthara , like Ajith keeps away from film promotions and the media. However she has a SM handle and all her outings with her BF Vignesh Shivn gets covered in full detail with photos (posted by the couple or the paparazzi). She too posted a condolence message. Kamal Haasan made it to the hospital on the evening before the death of SPB. All others issued condolences. Bharathiraaja ,the veteran director on the funeral day and previous night was present with singer Mano.

Copy Cat Atlee gets SRK nod

 

Copy Cat Atlee tops SRK list of four films that he has selected after rejecting 20 scripts. This time, like all previous times, Atlee claims it is not a copy but an original with SRK playing a RAW agent. After the washout of Zero, Shah Rukh Khan took a break. Now the word is that Karan Johar’s Dharma  production and Red Chilies’ is to produce the film and almost all the pre-production work on the subject is over. During the promotion of Atlee’s last film Bigil, his fellow director Harish Shankar let the cat out of the bag confirming his next with SRK. In reply, Atlee smiled which confirmed that he was indeed collaborating with SRK.

The director himself posted pixs of himself and his wife with SRK. Atlee said that he always takes his wife along when he narrates a story to an actor. The news that SRK has put the signature on four projects which are Aditya Chopra produced Pathan, Siddharth Anand's action film and Rajkumar Hirani's social comedy film , one with Raj and DK  apart from Atlee’s.

Right from his first film Raja Rani onwards, Atlee has been facing the copycat charge. The film was a revisit of Mani Rathinam’s Mouna Ragam. Atlee asked about Mounam Ragam, he replied “ A film with same theme ? Got to see it”. It is either a rehash of an earlier hit or `inspired’ by a Hollywood film. This has been the case with all his four films- Raja Rani in 2013, Theri (2016), Mersal (2017) and Bigil (2019), all featuring superstar Vijay.  It came to a stage that Vijay had to tell the director to hone in on other actors and not just bank on him.

From Mersal onwards, Atlee became a producer’s nightmare.  T Siva who is a leading producer had stated “I have heard that Mersal has suffered a loss of Rs 60 crore. All the issues are over. The actor got his money. The director who received Rs 3 crore in the last film has now got Rs 13 crore. Generally, if a director gets Rs 3 crore, he should get Rs 5 crore in the next film. How did he get Rs 13 crore? There should be some reason for the expenses spent on a film.” Bigil, directed by Atlee was Thalapathy Vijay's only release in 2019. ... Now, eight months after the movie's release, some online portals claimed that Bigil was actually a flop at the box-office, and AGS entertainment incurred a loss of more than 20 crores for making this film. AGS Productions Archana Kalpathi, claimed that Bigil's budget was exceeded due to the use of graphic scenes in football match scenes. These reports also added that the producer said release of the film was delayed due to budget constraints, and it had also caused several issues within the team.

To douse fire and appease Vijay fans, Archana denied having said anything like that. As T Siva says “A producer cannot go and talk about these issues to a star. Especially, with a mass actor like Vijay. If I do so, then misunderstandings and the call-sheet problems might arise.” Hope Karan Johar does not get embroiled in a skirmish with Atlee and be accused of anti- Tamil.

Gambling on Mohanlal Marakkar and Vijay's Master to pull crowds

 

If theaters are given permission to open next month , except for multilingual Marrakkar starring Mohanlal and directed by Priydarshan and Vijay’s Master, there is no big ticket film in the South that can bring the crowds back to movie halls. The sale of Soorai Potturu to Amazon and Malayalam film Kilometeres and kilometers to OTT has affected the calculations of Kerala and Tamil Nadu distributors. In Kannada filmdom it is worse as there is Star film ready and will have re-release Drona of Shivarajakumar released at the start of Lockdown. Same is the situation in AP &T after Nani’s V went to Amazon.

Though there are 45 films in Malayalam that is ready for screening, only Marakkar has the potential to pull the crowds in Kerala. As the film is made on a pan- Indian concept, the dubbed version might appeal for its grandeur to other language audience.  During the lockdown, the most viewed language film online was Malayalam .It could be a trial run for theaters outside Kerala. Tamil rights are with Thanu.  After SP backing out, the exhibitors have no choice but to go with Master to get the crowds. Vijay films apart from Tamil Nadu has a strong draw in Kerala and neighboring States.

The risk  for the distributors of Marakkar and Master is high. These films will have be bought on a MG basis and it means the money is locked in. The whole gamble is on how the audience that is still battling Covid  will decide – to go see Mohanlal – Vijay wth the family ( in case kids are allowed by Government) or will it have to bank on fan clubs alone to pull it through.

In USA and other countries the patronage of movie halls that opened last Friday is poor; the major beneficiary of Indian theaters opening is the foreign studios that have a vast library of films that are awaiting release all over India.

As productions are to start, Arun Vijay, Vikram and Vijay Sethupathi films will resume. Rajinikanth and Ajith will not take part in shoot till the vaccine arrives. Sun Pictures is to shoot all portions that do not involved Rajinikanth. In Telugu, Vijay Devarakonda’s Fighter’ under Puri Jagannadh's direction which also features Bollywood actress Ananya Pandey as the female lead in the film will start immediately as only a few days of work remains. Kannada’s Yash and Shivarajakumar have already got ready to complete the pending films.

 

Hollywood makes fun of Thalaivar- Amazon rift with Suriya - NASA names STAR after Hansika- Meera backed by B'Town director ?

Did American band make fun of Thalaiva ? Suriya and Amazon Prime part ways? NASA named a celestial Star after Hansika Motwani? Meera Mitun has the backing of a maverick director? These questions were raised by many of the netizens today. The answers. Black Eyed Peas the American band in a music video `Action’ features scenes from films like Rajinikanth’s Enthiran, Vishal’s Aambala, Ajay Devgn’s Singham, among others. The action scenes are identical to the original, except for the faces of the actors, upon which Black Eyed Peas member’s will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo have superimposed their own faces through deep fake technology. Scenes from the Swedish movie Kopps and Maryada Ramanna also appear in Action’s music video. Now Thalaivar, who is completing 45 years in Cinema on August 15th and basking in the praises flowing from his colleagues finds that his fans are unhappy with this music video. Fans say that it actually makes fun of the action scenes in Enthiran ( Robot). The makers wrote, “Check out our video for #ACTION inspired by #BOLLYWOOD…ive always loved music from india…#Elephunk and #MonkeyBusiness were inspired by Indian Culture…thank you india for your vibrancy and contribution to the world…” Music Maestro AR Rahman approved of the music video and quote-tweeted will.i.am’s tweet, “The borders are blurring through art! #tamilcinema @directorshankar #rajnikant #india.” Watching the video the fans do have a point. When the Common DP is making waves, the timing of the music video seems ill-timed. 

Now Suriya’s 2D Ent was the first to let Amazon Prime have a premiere release of their film Ponmaghal vandhal. He is to act in a web series helmed by Mani Rathnam for the same company. Now what went wrong? Why was 24 pulled out by the OTT?. Nothing to worry. Viewers said that audio quality is bad and it will be back with a bang soon says Amazon. 

No NASA did not name any celestial star after actress Hansika Motwani. A few friends paid the amount to the website https://www.star-registration.com/. In case you want to gift a STAR, pls visit the website. They give you a certificate that has a lifetime validity. So Hansika at 29 years need not worry about stardom. To further clear the query- Hansika never mentioned about NASA. It was an overzealous web portal. 

Yes, Meera Mitun announced that she is launching her production company in Delhi on Ganesh Chatuthurthi day She thanked her politicians-financier friends. Bhartiraaja who is to head the active producer’s council has warned Meera not to cross the line in her attacks on Stars. She called wives of Suriya and Vijay as woman with bad past. Her ex manager alleges that a big director in Mumbai is sponsoring her attacks on Kollywood. Talking about NASA, my astrologer says it has rearranged positions. Now my astrological planet sign has changed and should follow new sign. That is why I missed the prediction of COVID 19.

Thalapathy Vijay is King of Lockdown

Who won the lockdown battle in Tamil Nadu? No, it is not EPS- Stalin-Modi or Radhakrishnan. It is Thalapathy Vijay. He beat Rajinikanth and pushed him to third place. Raghava Lawrence overtook his `Guru’ and came second. Did they find a vaccine or put in place a mechanism to bring down Covid 19 cases? No. Then what the hell did Thaalapathy do to win during lockdown? Thalapathy Vijay’s film screened on TV during lockdown clocked more views than Rajinikanth and Raghava Lawrence came second. Who says so? BARC. What? We never said so and don’t use our letterhead or we will take action says BARC. Now there is an all round embarrassment in Thalapthy’s social media circles. Some said it was from unofficial twitter accounts and others said that it was a result of a serious analysis of BARC TRP ratings for channels and came to this conclusion. They only added the BARC logo for `effect’. The fans made a serious study of TRP during the times when Thalapathy films were telecast. Then they made a note of the figures of Raghava Lawrence and Rajinikanth films telecast in the same period. They further expanded the scope to other languages and saw that Prabhas and Akshay Kumar were trailing behind. Now what is the finding? Vijay clocked 117.9 million impressions and Rajinikanth had only 65.8 million. Now Rajinikanth fans say that more number of Vijay films was screened and so the figures are high. Now at the start of the 2020, BARC released a list of top 5 premieres. All Time Top 5 Tamil Premiere TV Impressions saw Ajith at the top. 1. #Viswasam - 18143000 2. #Pichaikkaran - 17696000 3. #Sarkar - 16906000 4. #SeemaRaja - 16766000 5. #Bigil – 16473000 So Thala Ajith fans can now boast of this unbeaten record. What puzzles me is the rise of Raghava Lawrence to second position? Were his films with horror- comedy stuff the right relief material for the TV viewers locked in their rooms? A relief from visuals of men in blue coats carrying dead bodies? Here again, Thalapathy fans can say that Sarkar + Bigil is more than Viswasam of Ajith. As I am doing some test shoots on YouTube for my channel (which was lying defunct), I took a look at those that I used to watch every week. Some are around, others not seen and some in a new avatar. Speaking about Avatar, a report said that Sushanth Singh Rajput’s upcoming film Dil Bechara trailor broke the world record in YouTube of having maximum views on first day. It was held by Avatar and Avatar Infinity From my viewing some YT channels on Tamil cinema news, I gather that Thalapathy fans are angry with these news floating around – Britto ( Vijay’s relative) is only a dummy producer of upcoming `Master’ and media mistakenly is interviewing him. The real producer is Lalith Kumar. Other one is that Jagatheesh, manager of Vijay and Line producer of Master has been sacked as Britto complained about many irregularities that took place at the Master audio launch. Third news that upcoming producer (Sun TV?) has backed out after Thalapathy refused to cut his fees. The timing of raking up the old Thalapathy- Napolean rift on sets of Pokkiri is too said to be handiwork of the anti- Jagadeesh camp to irritate Vijay.

Suriya CDP a copy of Vijay kicks virtual war, Rajinikanth- Kamal and 100 days

With theaters closed and film shootings not yet begun, Kollywood erupted in a virtual war. Actor Vijay fans say that the Common DP poster released by Suriya’s forthcoming film Soorai Pottru to mark the 45 th birthday of their hero on july 23^rd is nothing but a rehash of the CDP released by them on their idol’s birthday last month. This virtual war fought on Twitter and social media had a respite after the lockdown.  There were no big releases, trailors or audio launches. Fans handle did not have to brag about the rising First Day First Collections being the record (implying that all other heroes are put in a shadow). Also they had the job of tweeting right from theater as early as 4 AM . Right from the titles onwards , fans start tweet about how grt the start has been. On the side, you get tweets about being a so so film and  a big yawn.

The recent issue is the CDP.  Now this is supposed to be giving a complete picture of the hero’s career and social acceptance etc. In companies this is a system used to show the marketing potential of a product. The similarity raised is that both heroes have identical stance and hands raised upwards (only difference being the right and left). Next is that there are scores of people seen climbing on to Vijay. In Suriya, you have a bridge that goes around him and ends in his palm. The palm has people in doctors, lawyers and other professionals garb. In the bottom of  Vijay poster has Thiruvaluvar and Gandhi statue along with modern buildings. In Suriya poster there are a few buildings, greenery for villages and a Agaram Foundation board (a Trust that Suriya runs to fund education of needy children).

Now Suriya fans say that the name of the actor is written in six languages  inside the lettering. It implies that the actor is a pan Indian actor. This is the reason why 100 celebs will be releasing the CDP of  Suriya and film team has said a big surprise waits on birthday. In the social media war, Suriya was not targeted by other hero’s fans. However, when Suriya fans took to a MASS tag, Dhanush fans jumped in to blast them as the MASS tag is their idol’s rightfully deserved one. Suriya’s father Actor Sivakumar is who chided anybody for being his fan and had no fan clubs in an era of MGR and Sivaji manrams.

In the Kamal- Rajnikanth period too this continued forward. As it was the era of standalone theaters, there was no question of both heroes film releasing under  one roof. Albert Theater Mariappan had the obsession to see that every Rajinikanth film celebrated 100 days in his theatre and he conducted a function. My Editor ( Screen Weekly) asked me to be guide to a Japanese TV crew covering greats of Indian cinema . Rajnikanth’s `Muthu’ was a hit in Japan. Now, I managed to get an appointment with Rajanikanth for the TV crew and luckily they had a Hindi speaking guy to interpret. After the shoot, they wanted to shoot the theater showing Muthu. It was running on a morning show only and past 100 days. Mariappan told me that hardly ten guys came and to ask Sathyanarayana ( then manager of Rajinikanth) to do the needful. At 8 AM, I went to the theater with the crew. There was a huge crowd outside. They garlanded the Japanese crew and theater was full. They danced, threw ticket bills and made a ruckus. A cutout outside the theatre was garlanded and pots of milk poured on it. Mariappan keeps the cutout standing till the next Superstar film is released. TV crew  is happy. Mogambu kush ho gaya !!!

Officially Ajith has not recognized any fan outfits. In the virtual world, if you want to be famous  – call any of these actor’s bad names or even criticize them. This goes for even the reviewers and the so called industry trackers on twitter. If they do not put out a figure which is bigger than the rival’s opening they get slammed and if they do, the rival hero fans handles will ask how much you got paid for it.  How can such trade secrets can be revealed?

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Update : Thalapathy Vijay's mother joins him against Dad's political plunge

Thalapathy Vijay's mother Shoba said that her husband tricked her into signing the form to register a political party. She also confirmed the news that her husband and her son were not on talking terms for quite some time as her son had asked SAC to stop taking his name for political gains. As it is certain that Rajinikanth might not play an important role in the coming State polls, the entry of Vijay ,next biggest draw in terms of popularity from film industry should be the next logical choice to fill in this vaccum. SAC had always been open in admitting that only Rajinikanth can be another MGR who can bank on his filmi charisma feels that this is the right time to strike when the Dravidian majors are down and Superstar has withdrawn from the fray. A close look will show that the submitting of the application was done along with the release of the party flag and it's logo .It was a well thought out move is evident.

The start of the political entry of Vijay started from his last birthday when the  same organisation that today said has applied for a political party registration with Election Commission put up posters with names of All India office bearers. This was seen as an internal move in which the fan body had structured into an organization with  office bearers to run it on a pan Indian level. Needless to say Dad SAC  figured in these posters.

Last month, news broke out that SAC was joining BJP.. He told a TV channel that there was no need for him to join any party as he had already nurtured Vijay Makkal Mandram and it was enough for him to enter politics. All the while there was a stoic silence from Vijay. Now as fans celebrated Movie Sarkar 2 years of release ,  tweet from All India Vijay Makkal Mandram said  registration applied with EC for political party. Next it attaches  copy of the application. Dad says yes have turned it a political outfit, my son is free to join or stay away. Vijay in an unsigned statement says I am not behind it and asks fans to stay away and warns of action if his photo or name is misused. The story that Dad and son are not on the same page is yet another eyewash. It is well known that Vijay is Mama's boy and SAC is tied to the apron strings of his wife. Shoba Chandrasekar is the treasurer of the newly formed party !!!  Now she has backtracked saying that she was told that it was to form an association.

The post published on 19/6/20 in this blog - As birthday of `Thalapathy’ Vijay draws near, posters have appeared in Madurai with the names of the officer bearers of the service organization run by the actor. This too for many look like the first step towards the entry to politics. In my viewpoint, he had long time back got his fans and the public to see him as a politician in the waiting. The fact that his speeches are found to be important for the political pundits to go through with a microscope and write a dissection report in the record books is proof of it.   I was coming back from a studio round and had my colleague V Shekar as pillion. Shekar, a freelancer, was on a Mission X’Mas. He wanted to collect many X’ Mas gifts to make his family of wife, three daughters and two sons happy. He directed me to take him  to a street in Saligramam. We stopped in front of a house that had only a porch light outside. It hardly looked like a place of a person who would contribute to Shekar’s kitty. He went in and came out after some time. I dropped him at his home and left. I asked him whose house it was. He said – S A Chandrasekar, director of many successful Tamil films that were remade in Hindi. He then said that it was at a wrong time that he landed. SAC had lost his daughter to an illness and there was no X’mas   He also cleared my puzzled look by saying that that SAC was a Christian.

After that I had met SAC at many sets and we hit off very well. I had often gone to collect the stills and take his interview at his Saligramam house. He had directed blockbuster hits with Jackie Shroff ( Azad Desh ki Ghulam), Jeetendra ( Balidaan) and Mithun Chakraborty ( Jeevan ki Shatranj). His film `Sattam oru irrutuaria’ was `Andha Kanoon’ in Hindi with Rajnikanth , directed by T Rama Rao. SAC said that he had pinned great hope to make a big splash in B’Town in Rajesh Khanna’s own production and with Dimple and Jeetendra in the cast. The film did not get released.

One of my visits to SAC house saw, Vijay sitting there. Vijay was send to USA to learn a course in film studies. SAC said that he and Shoba got restless on hearing about racial protests and told him to come back, even though there was no trouble in the place where he lived.  A report a few months back said that Vijay was worried about his son studying in Canada as there is a national lockdown . 

I remember an incident in Suprageeth Preview theater . We, the seniors were coming down the steps after the show and walking out. SAC came running and called us back. He was in frenzy. He shouted at Vijay and the PRO and told them that it was their duty to meet the outgoing pressmen after the show. With SAC’s efficient handling of the media, Vijay never faced a hostile press. Only at one instance, I remember Vijay blowing his cool at a press conference with him talking in a threatening tone with fingers pointed at the journalist who posed a question on a rumour that was being widely circulated. SAC intervened and cooled tempers. I saw journalists being given bundles of notebooks with Vijay’s cover photo. His fan clubs used to distribute them to school students.

SAC told us to be more interactive with Vijay but I guess we saw him as SAC’s son and he as Dad’s friends.  Photo of Vijay and Vikranth's brother with Thalaivar.

Later on he had P T Selvakumar as his manager; PTS to me appeared to be a person in awe of Vijay and with a motive to produce a film with him. Not the kind of a person for an actor fast growing to be a Superstar. A decade later, PTS did produce a film with Vijay and landed in trouble with IT.

Vijay shone in the lover boy roles and easily shifted to action –romance- comic hero mould of Rajini. All those who say that Vijay should attempt films that are not on the beaten track, should remember that a film of his with Shalini as heroine and directed by Fazil had no buyers. Kadhalukku Mariyadhe had an offbeat climax. Instead of the lovers eloping, they decide that they will marry only if the elders agree. Distributors said that the youth who like to see rebellious lovers on screen will hoot out the film. Fazil’s first choice was Abbas, then a hot favorite of youth. As dates were not easily available, Vijay was cast. Shalini had already acted in the Malayalam original. Oscar Films Ravichandran, who familiar with Malayalam films as a distributor put a slightly more margin to the whole cost and bought the film. The Producer was relieved that he had managed to get rid of a film termed a sure dud and in the bargain, he made modest money. Oscar Ravichandran, after this film release became the most sought after distributor in K’Town - A man with the Midas touch.