Published in The Hindu’s Ergo, Chennai, on July 31, 2008
“I want to quit movies and return to my village,” director-actor Cheran exploded at an audio release function in Namma Chennai on Wednesday. Venting his ire against what he termed as “false and derogatory” reporting by a section of the vernacular media, Cheran lashed out on the stage of the audio release function of upcoming “Raman Thediya Seethai” at Santham Cinemas.
The function itself had proceeded on an acclamatory tone with several leading actors and directors praising the cast and crew for their offbeat cinema. But little did they realise what was to come from the “yathaartha nayagan” (the recent title of ‘realistic hero’ bestowed upon Cheran).
Referring to reports that he was in “friendly” terms with co-artist Padmapriya and that he had creative differences with the movie’s director Jaganath, who had once been his assistant, Cheran called the journalists “baadungala” (Tamil slang).
He continued his diatribe even as a section of the media voiced their dissent. “I am an honest person and I don’t know why people don’t like me to grow.”
Saying that Jaganath and he were in healthy terms, he said: “I am one of his well wishers and the difference between us was not over the screenplay of this movie as published. Instead of getting caught in these controversies, I would rather return to my village and breathe fresh air.”
Irked over his speech, the mediapersons prepared to leave when Jaganath was giving his address. Cheran returned to the mike again to apologise for his speech, making it clear that his condemnation was “an honest one against false media reports.” But the function ended there abruptly.
Earlier, president of Tamil Film Producers’ Council Ramanarayan released the audio CD and Kalaipuli S Dhanu received the first copy, following which three songs of the movie were played at the Santham theatre. Words of praises and wishes echoed through the auditorium as the guests were mouthing kudos to the music director.
Actors Prakashraj, Bharath, Srikant and Sibiraj were among the special invitees. There was also a huge contingent of directors: Balu Mahendran, K.S.Ravikumar, Ameer, Bhagyaraj and Vasanth.
Music director Vidyasagar, producers G. Dhananjayan of Moser Baer Entertainment and K. Ramesh of Global One studios and three of the five heroines of the movie were present at the function.
While Pasupathi and Nithin Sathya assume lead roles in the movies, Karthika, Vimala Raman, Ramya Nambeesan, Navya Nair and Gajala feature as heroines. Vidyasagar, who is famed for his dulcet melodies, has also sung a song for the movie.
