NEETHANE EN PONVASANTHAM PRESS MEET - EVENT STORY

“There’s a beautiful river and a boat tied in the shore,” started Gautham Menon, explaining who will enjoy his new film, Neethane En Ponvasantham more. The press meet was held at the Residency towers, T Nagar and Samantha and Elred Kumar were present at the event.

The director continued, “You will enjoy the slow boat ride and the beautiful scenery more, if you take your lover with you. You will even enjoy the company of your lover more than you usually do. Neethane En Ponvasantham is a film for such people who love to travel on a slow boat and enjoy the moments, and not for those who wants to hurry in a chopper.”

That said, the media was eager to know how many people liked the boat ride. The ever calm Gautham said that he doesn’t take the initial response. “Neethane En Ponvasantham is a slow poison. It will keep lingering on everybody’s mind. For almost all my films, the initial response has been mixed and later people will celebrate it. That’s what happened to Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya, Vaaranam Aayiram and even Khakha Khakha. I’m used to this trend and am sure the fate of NEP will be the same. So, I’m waiting.”

He also said that the initial response of VTV was much worse than NEP. Elred Kumar, the producer supported the point from a monetary perspective. “This film has witnessed a tremendous opening at the box office and in fact has surpassed the opening VTV had, with a pretty huge margin,” pointed out Elred Kumar.

The next question people had in their mind was about the very long break up shot, just before the interval block. Gautham Menon, who was expecting the question, said that his inspirations in exploiting such shots were Mani Ratnam and Martin Scorsese. He was amazed at the usage of such lengthy shots in films like Iruvar and Good Fellas. “Such shots are used to capture the body language. That particular break up scene starts happily and ends tragically. I wanted to try out a different technique to express the emotions and focusing on the facial expressions alone doesn’t show any ‘difference in technique’,” the director began to justify his effort. “Samantha, in that particular scene will be on her toes and continues to be restless and desperate to be with Varun. If I had shown the facial expressions, her body language, which is the most important element in that scene, wouldn’t have reached the audience. And I was also afraid that the gentle transition of one emotion to another might turn bumpy if cuts are employed,” Gautham reasoned.

He also announced that the climax has been trimmed to make it crispier. Post that session, the spot light turned to Samantha, who politely answered all the usual questions a successful actress encounters. One of the most interesting points she made was about the role model she looked up to, to do the role of Nithya. “I was my own reference. I have experience of how school girls and college girls behave. For the 24-year-old Nithya, I looked up to my friends and kin.”

It seems, in real life she is more like Varun, a career oriented person, with a clear mind. But she likes to be Nithya and she loves the character more than Jesse, which she played in Ye Maaya Chesave. She is also happy with the response she has been getting, even though she claims that the results are not her concerns. “All credits go to Gautham sir and it’s my honor to work under such a big director in such a short time in my career,” wrapped up the pretty lady cloaked in black and white.