“I THOUGHT I WAS DEAD AND BURIED”, VASANTHA BALAN

The launch (pooja) of "Aravaan", Vasantha Balan's next venture was held in a posh hotel in Chennai today (16th July). Based on the novel "Kaaval Kottam" by C. Venkatesan, this film has already created ripples in the industry owing to the success of Vasantha Balan's Angadi Theru.

The function was graced by a number of celebrities from the silver screen. Speaking at the occasion, director Shankar was all praise for his favorite disciple. Shankar was candid when he said that though every assistant of his is important and useful for the making of a movie, Vasantha Balan held a special place in his office. He proclaimed that when he and his team were struggling for one liners and dialogues for Mudhalvan and Indian, it was Vasantha Balan who helped him with amazingly catchy lines. Visibly happy, Shankar said "I’m happy to see Vasantha Balan grow to heights which he has achieved in such a short period of time".

Shankar who was elated when Vasantha Balan's Veyil was screened at the Cannes film festival also revealed that the standard of living of people who work in Ranganathan street has improved after Angadi Theru and also thanked the CM for taking effective measures. He concluded by saying that cinema is also for solving people's problems and that he expects more movies like Angadi Theru in the future. He congratulated the team of Aravaan and wished them all success.

Director Venkat Prabhu was in his casual mode. He was all praise for T. Shiva, the producer of Aravaan. Incidentally, Shiva was the producer of his earlier movie Saroja. Venkat Prabhu said, "Shiva never cares about the budget of the movie as long as the quality is good. So I believe Vasantha Balan is lucky to have him as producer. After watching the "test suite", I'm very curious to see the final product. I can see a fusion between old and new and so I'm looking forward to watch this movie". He also asked the director to finish the movie soon so that he can watch it on silver screen.

Also present at the function was DMK MP Trichy Siva. Wishing the Aravaan team luck, Siva said, “The CM of Tamil Nadu is interested in the welfare of people from all fields". Remembering the action taken by the CM after watching Angadi Theru, he also said that he is a big fan of Vasantha Balan. He was also excited about the movie since it is set in the backdrop of the 18th century.

Other celebrities present in the function were actress Sona, actor Sivakumar, Editor Mohan, Music director James Vasanthan and Rama Narayanan. Mr. Rama Narayanan was also presented with a sword for winning the Producers’ Council elections.

Director Vasantha Balan was all appreciation for his guru Shankar. He was very candid to admit that he was dead and buried after his first movie "Album" which was not a successful movie. He claimed that his life changed forever after Veyil and thanked Shankar for giving him a new lease of life. Amidst smiles from fans and celebrities, he said "Even now when Shankar Sir calls I stand up when I answer my phone. My assistant will know that I’m talking to Shankar Sir if I stand up answering a phone call. I get very emotional when I remember the old days and how Shankar Sir has helped me". He concluded by saying that Aravaan is based on a novel by C. Venkatesan which he wrote for 10 years. I have worked on the script for 1 year and I'm confident this will be a different movie from my earlier ones".

Aravaan has Aadi and Pasupathy in lead roles with Dhansika and Archana Kavi as the female leads. The music for the movie is composed by singer Karthik and the camera is to be handled by Siddharth.