EVENT COVERAGE

"Remain humble", says Gautham Menon

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The audio Launch of ‘Hi Da’ directed by Brindha Das happened today at Satyam cinemas, Chennai. Gautham Menon, Bhagyaraj, T Siva, PL Thenappan, Balaji Mohan and Balaji Tharaneetharan graced the event and conveyed their wishes to the first time director.

The event kicked off with the screening of the trailer of Hi Da and two songs from the film. The comic trailer and the two breezy songs drew applause and cheers from the crowd.

Brindha Das, the director, addressed the gathering with a welcome speech. The film she has made is supposedly a simple, fresh friendship tale, starring John Vijay and six new comers, Uday, Bhavana, Ashwin, Jacqueline, Vridhi and Pradeesh. Talking about Gautham Menon, the new lady director remarked that he is her “on screen and off screen hero”.

She recollected her days when she was working with Bhagyaraj for a TV serial. “He gave me my dialogues in a paper and told me to read it. It was in Tamil and I didn’t know to read it. He was so mad at me. I requested him to read it to me and I did my part like that,” narrated Brindha. She thanked all the directors whom she has worked with, for making her what she is today.

Balaji Mohan, who came on to speak next opined that there should be no distinguishing between a woman director and a male director. “I have worked as an assistant with two lady directors and I tell you, they hate talks like that,” added the Kaadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi director. He also feels that there are many rural stories coming up in Kollywood and he wishes to see more urban tales like Hi Da in coming days.

Gautham Menon was all praise for Brindha Das, who was also part of Khakha Khakha. “I have always said, Tamil Cinema needs more lady directors. Ladies are more creative and their way of expressing is different. That’s why I have four or five young female assistant directors with me,” said Gautham Menon.

Bhagyaraj, with his trademark sarcasm started off saying that he likes the confidence of producer Rajesh Kannan, who has come forward to fund a project of a newcomer. Then he switched to a flash back mode and narrated how much he hated the actors, when they asked for prompters while shooting a film. But, he proudly said Brinda never needed them.

Another interesting information was revealed by Bhagyaraj. He said that he is more youthful than any other youngster on the dais and in an effort to prove that statement, he revealed that the youthful title, Hi was registered by him 20 years ago. Since he couldn’t use the title, he didn’t mind Brinda using it. Brinda was astonished to hear the scoop and immediately apologized to the ace director.

Bhagyaraj, before summing up expressed that he is very proud of Brinda and as a request he asked her to learn to write Tamil soon.

Next came the hero of the event, music composer Vishal Chandrasekar. The young musician, like a nervous and humble school kid, hopped on to the podium and thanked all the musicians and technicians for helping him in making his long awaited dream come true. Gautham Menon in response to his speech praised him for his good work and requested him to remain humble like now, even after his 15^th film.

At the end of the event Gautham Menon released the audio CD and Bhagyaraj received the first copy.