2014 promises to be a year of many landmarks for Ramesh. He turns fifty by the end of the year. It’s also exactly thirty years since he first faced the camera in cinema. His directorial debut in Tamil, ‘Utthama Villain’ starring Kamal is all but wrapped up and he’s extremely excited about the way it’s shaped up. Last weekend he was back in Bangalore to shoot his new TV show, ‘Weekend with Ramesh’. Celebrities cannot escape the media microscope and God save them if a mild misdemeanour is smelt. Ramesh, the arch enemy of gossip rags thanks to an unblemished personal and professional record will probe into their lives, in a pleasant way. He will test their memory, throwing up facts and trivia they’ve probably forgotten and get family and friends to share little known incidents and idiosyncrasies.
Abbiah Naidu studio is buzzing with activity. One floor has been converted into a tastefully done up stage where the hot seat will be occupied by the celebrity whose life will unfold, stage by stage. Walkie talkies crackle while last minute orders are shouted out. Strobe lights swirl, showering the stage with shafts of light. There was Ramesh, bouncing around rehearsing his opening lines while waiting for his first guest. Outside, in a cozy caravan a casually clad Puneet Raj Kumar waits patiently. We exchange notes about recently released films. He’s very impressed with the recent Tamil release, ‘Arima Nambi’. There’s a tap on the door, a head appears and announces that they are ready to shoot. The ever-at-ease Ramesh announces the show with a flourish and introduces his first guest to thunderous applause. In a role reversal, Puneet occupies the hot seat. The fascinating journey down memory lane begins. He’s shocked to see the person who first held him after he was born.
It’s an emotional journey revealed through a stream of surprised guests. An interesting nugget is that Puneet made his screen debut the same year as Superstar Rajnikanth. Puneet was an infant, strapped to a stroller in ‘Premadha Kanike’. Kamal recently revealed a little known fact. He learnt much later that when he was acting in his debut film, ‘Kalathur Kanamma’ at AVM studios, the star he respected immensely, Dr.Raj Kumar was making his maiden appearance before movie cameras on an adjacent floor. Fascinating film trivia like this could fill a book.
I interviewed Dhanush during the shooting of ‘Polladhavan’. He was in Bangalore for a day and his co-star Ramya was keen I meet him. “He’s extremely unassuming and a delight to work with,” gushed Ramya who’s parsimonious with praise. I needed no prodding since I was fascinated by his performance in ‘Pudhupettai’. Now something he claimed very casually during the course of the interview struck me. “It’s very easy to plan a hit film. It’s more difficult to make a good film,” he said, with a disarming smile rather than an arrogant smirk. I agreed with the second part, but the first was intriguing since nobody had said that before. I wasn’t impressed then but agree after watching ‘Velai Illa Pattadhari’. The dark unkempt, unemployed hero outwitting a rich, fair adversary and winning the heart of a girl who looks like an actress as his mother claims is a formula that seldom fails. The stereotypes are all there. The father who keeps berating him, while his mother defends him and the nerdy, wimp of a brother who’s earning well and buys a new car. The ‘mother sentiment’ makes you keep swallowing the lumps that seem to bounce into your throat. Dhanush has played this character with a similar milieu in nearly all his films. What’s it in this film that’s making his fans go into a frenzy? The scenes are tautly sewn, lines well written and impeccably delivered and the build up to a predictable climax is not spoiled by unnecessary intrusions. The hero doesn’t do anything extra to impress his neighbour, the heroine which is probably why she falls for him. She’s his confidante though he feels jealous when she interacts with his brother. It is established that there’s a dormant, violent streak in him. His Facebook friends are a community of unemployed engineers like himself who flood him with help when he’s desperate . There’s no ‘item number’ nor does he have cronies to form a comedy track. There’s the battered moped, the extinct Mofa that he rides and defends fiercely. The film changes gear in the second half, from self-pity to proving a point, personally. ‘VIP’ has stormed the box-office. Dhanush’s performance, again is heart-warming, be it his dialogue delivery with pregnant pauses or his effortless expressions. ‘VIP’ is an unabashed entertainer with a heart. I wonder what the Kannada title will be and who’ll star in it??
