A housefly becomes a hero – Naan Ee!

Telugu cinema’s celebrated hit maker S.S. Rajamouli, is doing a direct Tamil film for the first time; and it is going to be one of the biggest experiments ever done in Indian cinema. In fact, we should not be calling it a big experiment, it is a small experiment. Yes, perhaps we will be seeing the smallest ever protagonist in the history of Indian cinema, world cinema perhaps, a house fly! Yes, you read it right, a house fly will the protagonist of the movie, rightly titled Naan Ee. The team of Naan Ee met the press today.

Remember the ‘Ranguski’ scene from Endhiran. Now, imagine the amount of special effects and ground work that would have to go into making a full length feature film with a fly as the main character. The storyline, as revealed by the director, is that of a hero (played by Naani of Veppam fame) who gets killed in a conspiracy hatched by the villain. The hero is reincarnated, as a fly, and he is yearning for revenge. How does a fly iniflict revenge on a human being? Well, for that the fly takes the help of the heroine, played by Samantha, who was his lover during his time as a human on earth. The communication between the fly and his lady love is said to be the highlight of this movie. That the movie is going to be a hilarious ride for the audience is sure because the screenplay and dialogue have been handled by none other than Crazy Mohan, who also plays an important character in the movie. Santhanam will also be seen in a full length role in this film. Santhanam said that this role offered him scope to do something different from the usual sarcastic dialogue delivery that he has been doing. Here, he has been made to react more through his facial expressions than dialogues.

The all important visual effects department of this movie has been handled by Kamalakkannan and Peter, from England.  Almost all the visual effects portions have been handled by Indian technicians, barring Peter. Kamalakkannan said that creating visual effects for scenes comprising a fly is extremely difficult; perhaps even more difficult than creating dinosaurs. Rajamouli said that this story was first narrated to him by his father around 15 years back. But, it is only now that enough resources and technology is available in the industry to make such a project come true. He said that this movie will be something like a Stuart Little for Tamil cinema. He also said that some of the tricks used by the fly to wreak vengeance on its enemy will be reminiscent of the clever methods used by Appu in Apoorva Sahodarargal. Samantha said that she was extremely happy about being part of this film and that she would have definitely regretted it had she not been able to do it.

Music for Naan Ee, has been scored by Maragadhamani. The film is almost complete and is slated for a March release, as a Tamil-Telugu bilingual. S.S. Rajamouli has previously directed blockbusters like Magadheera.

Tags: Naan Ee, Samantha, Santhanam, Sudeep, SS Rajamouli