Balaji introduced me to world cinema: Lingusaamy

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The audio launch of Balaji Shakthivel’s Vazhakku En18/9 was held on Wednesday. The movie marks the return of Balaji Shakthivel whose last movie was Kalloori way back in 2007. Vazhakku En 18/9 has been co-produced by UTV and Lingusaamy’s Thirupathi Brothers. Music for the film has been scored by R Prasanna who has earlier worked for the Oscar winning documentary Smile Pinki

Speaking at the event, Lingusaamy said that Balaji Shakthivel was one of the few film makers who was very particular about reality on screen. He explained the lengths to which Balaji Shakthivel would go to get the right person for a character. He also said that Balaji Shakthivel was the person who introduced him to world cinema. He had known very little of world cinema before talking to Balaji Shakthivel. Talking about his arrival as a producer, he said that he did not consider himself a producer. It just so happened that he was in a position to finance a few ventures at this time and that he was happy that he could be a part of such films. It is not necessary that he would always be producing films. He said that it would be a constant process of cooperation between his circle of friends which included directors like Sasi.

Director Sasi said that much like the impact that Kadhal created, even Vazhakku En 18/9 was sure to leave the audiences in a spell. He recalled that when Kadhal was in theatres, people could not stop talking about the movie and its characters. This movie had the ability to create the same kind of impact.

Director S.S. Stanley said that he had seen the preview show of the movie along with many other directors. While almost all of them had given their opinions to Balaji Shaakthivel, he alone had walked away without telling anything. He said that the reason was that he was so disturbed after seeing the movie that he did not feel like saying anything.

Finally Balaji Shakthivel spoke and said that all the directors had been very generous in their praise. He however added that the audience was free to feel the way liked about this film. He also talked about the 5D camera used in this film and complemented cameraman Milton for making it work so well. He said that it was amazing to see that images shot on such a small camera could bring such high quality output on screen. He also talked about how Lingusaamy was completelt supportive of the project. He said that till the time the movie was completed, Lingusammy did not even know the complete story. However there was a time when he was stuck not knowing how to shoot the initial portions of the script. This was when he invited Lingusaamy to watch the rushes of the portions already shot. He said that the discussions held after the screening helped him evolve ideas for the initial portions of the film.

Vazhakku En 18/9 features a host of newcomers and is scheduled to hit theatres soon.

Tags: Balaji Sakthivel, Lingusaamy, Vazhakku En