January 2nd, 2009
On the first day of 2009, a long awaited event finally took place. After more than 2 years of speculation, we are now sure that Naan Kadavul will release for this Pongal. The audio release was held today at Sathyam Cineplex. Kollywood turned up in full strength to mark the occasion. On the guest list were seniors Vaali, Mani Ratnam, Balu Mahendra, LMM Murali,
KRG, T. Shekharan and Ramanarayanan. Suriya and Vikram, both beneficiaries of Bala’s directorial brilliance were also present apart from the cast and crew of Naan Kadavul. Maestro Ilaiyaraja was conspicuous by his absence. The true professional that he is, Ilaiyaraja was involved in the mixing work of the movie to make sure it released on time. Uttam Singh, the other composer of the movie, was present.
Though Naan Kadavul is being released in 2009, it will be considered for all 2008 awards because it was censored on the penultimate day of the year. At the event, the trailer was screened and it seemed to hit everyone very hard with its raw and quite shaking content. One couldn’t make out whether Arya plays a holy man or a hit man.
Speaking at the event Vaali said that Bala belonged to the breed of film makers who preferred to talk less and let their movies do the talking. He added that even though the film was delayed ’Latea vandhaalum, latesta varum’, borrowing a Superstar punch line. Mani Ratnam said that Bala had joined the illustrious list of film makers like Bharathiraja, Mahendran and Balu Mahendra who have made milestones in Tamil cinema. He was followed on the dais by Balu Mahendra who said that he considered Bala as his son and was glad to see him scale such heights. He added that he was finding it difficult to get the right words to describe Bala.
Then it was Suriya’s turn. He said that he was yet to get over the excitement of watching the trailer. He recalled the days when Vikram created a flutter with Sethu and said that watching the Naan Kadavul trailer made him feel the same way about Arya, he doubted whether he would have been able to give the same kind of dedication to a movie for a 3 year period like Arya had done. He also said that contrary to popular perception, Naan Kadavul was not delayed because Bala does not believe in making movies for seasons or festivals. He makes movies with the aim of getting it done to perfection. Later Vikram said that he was not at all surprised with what he had seen in the trailer, one has come to expect such quality from Bala. It would have been a surprise only if Bala had failed to produce such an effect.
Arya said that after all the hard work, he was now feeling relieved that the movie was finally releasing. He had to endure a lot of questions and queries about the fate of the movie throughout the 3 years. He added that the quality and scale of the movie will justify the long time it has taken to get completed. Pooja was at a complete loss about what to say but somehow managed to convey that she had learnt a lot about films from Bala.
.jpg)
