"Suriya is a silent Sakalakala Vallavan'' - Event Story

The music release function of Suriya’s 24 took place today, 11th April at Sathyam Cinemas, Royapettah, Chennai. It was a neat and simple event with some of the top celebrities in the industry participating. If you want to know what happened at the audio launch, what the celebrities spoke about 24, glance down and read:-

A select set of Suriya fans were present at the audio launch who kept on asking their favorite star to wave his hands at them and occasionally when he did, the crowd went berserk.

The host asked everyone to stand up for a minute of silent prayer for the people who lost their lives at the Kollam temple fire incident. After that, the teaser of the film was played and then the host invited Rajaesekar Pandian, the chairman of 2D Entertainment to the dais to share a few words and to formally welcome all the dignitaries and fans present at the event.

Then we had some live performances of 3 beautiful tracks from 24 namely Kaalam En Kadhali, Aararoo and Naan Un. Singers like Chinmayi Sripadha, Benny Dayal, Abhay Jodhpurkar and Sakthishree Gopalan who rendered for the original version of the respective songs rocked the stage with some flawless renditions and Keba took care of the strings.

And there was a surprise fourth performance which was from actress Nithya Menen who sang the Telugu version of Aararoo and to everyone’s surprise AR Rahman took the stage to take care of keys for that song.

Soon after the song rendition was over, Rahman picked up the microphone and thanked his music team and also called all the singers on to the stage for a group photo and seeing that Suriya joined the party  and also called Vikram K Kumar on to the stage.

Legendary actor and Suriya’s father Sivakumar was then invited to the stage and he had some nice words to say about Suriya’s dedication. He also went on to say that Suriya is a silent ‘’Sakalakala Vallavan’’ and he felt proud and wondered how such a silent boy could peek such great heights.

Next on stage was lyricist Madan Karky who recalled an incident while recording a song for 24. Apparently Karky and Rahman were discussing about a song and Karky wrote the exact same words that Rahman read in a book the very same morning. Karky then talked a word or two about all the three songs that he penned in the album. He also said that Rahman is very motivating and told him to experiment a lot and insisted to not stay in the same zone.

Then the making videos of Mei Nagara and Naan Un were played. The visuals of both the songs looked stunning and both Suriya and Samantha looked gorgeous on screen. After that, producers T Siva and PL Thenappan were called upon stage and they spoke few good things about Suriya and also conveyed their wishes to the team.

Suriya welcomed everyone on the stage with a flower garland. The trend followed as Hari walked up on to the dais. The Singam director who got a loud cheer from fans said that he watched the trailer and was taken aback. He also said that Durai Singam (Singam 3) will be back in action in another 4-5 months. Speaking at the launch Dhananjayan said that Suriya is only next to Kamal when it comes to experimentation and taking Tamil cinema audience to the global front. He felt that 24 is an experimentation with a perfect blend of commercial aspects and also wished Suriya for a hat trick for 2D Entertainments.

Saranya Ponvannan said that everyone should learn from Suriya how to treat everyone. She also said that though it was Mani Ratnam who introduced her into films, it is Vikram K Kumar who first introduced her as an Amma to the film industry (Mother character).

Karthi was then called upon to say a few words and then reveal the trailer. The Thozha actor said he had watched some portions of the film already and said Mani (one of the 3 characters played by Suriya) was very smart and brushed his brain to Ghajini days when he first saw the visuals of Suttum Vizhi song and told people that Suriya is going to give sleepless nights to many girls across the state. He then stated that annan (Suriya) was his real life villain till he was 10 but the villain role that he has played in 24 is in a different league. He also thanked Rahman for the songs and the re-recording and claimed that the bgm lifts the film and 24 deserves a music like this.

Then the trailer was played which was received very well by the audience and soon after lyricist Vairamuthu was invited onto the stage after an a/v of him was screened. He spoke highly about Suriya’s dedication and said that Suriya is someone who picks his crew carefully and selects only talented technicians.

The director of this grand film Vikram K Kumar was then called upon after a special a/v. Vikram started by saying that he was not good at stage talks and kept his speech short and simple thanking his entire team. The host tried to ease Vikram by calling the pretty looking Nithya Menen to the stage. She told Vikram that he told her about 5 - 6 stories during their Ishq days and all of them were stunning. With 24 Vikram has taken the bar of Indian cinema one notch higher, said Nithya. She also said that 2D is one of the best banners she has worked with and was very comfortable and happy while shooting. Nithya also said that Rahman’s music complimented the visuals and it is bang on.

A special a/v of AR Rahman was then screened, probably one of the longest and better ones of the day. And as Rahman’s name was called, the whole theatre stood up to welcome him on to the stage. As usual he did not let his talking take the front seat as he said that he did not want to talk about the film as it is still in progress and thanked everyone for the opportunity and concluded his speech by saying ‘God Bless’.

Next came in the most awaited speech of the evening, but that will be only after the special a/v of Suriya which talked about his journey from Nerukku Ner to 24. The actor then took to the centre stage after a huge nonstop cheer from the crowd.

Suriya started his speech by saying - ‘’Neenga trailer ah paathu pause vidama kai thatneengalaa ... Apidi irundichu!”. He then apologized to his fans for not able to meet them. He said he has been keeping busy with work and that is the reason for not able to meet them.

“I heard the story of 24 and wanted to produce it and that is how 2D was formed”. He then named every technician and thanked all of them. “Tirru’s work is amazing”, he said and then thanked Rahman and his team for an amazing live performance and making the event a memorable one.

Suriya then said that his father is his backbone and to see him talk about him like this is something very special. “I stood up and clapped my hands after listening to the story of 24 for 4 hours. It has been a long time since I have done that” said Suriya.

“I need to talk about Rahman sir. I messaged saying that I needed him to listen to a script and he replied back, 30 minutes ok va? On hearing this excited Vikram said ok, the man who narrated the script for 4 hours to me said that he will narrate the script in 30 minutes. AR Rahman who gave us 30 minutes time heard the full script for 6 hours. He gave us the confidence to make 24 happen.”

He narrated a small story and at the conclusion of that he said “the moral of the story is God will give us more than what we ask and that is how the case with Rahman sir. He gives you more than what you expect.”

Suriya then said he learnt a lot from Rahman and also claimed that he can never forget the favour Rahman did to him during Sillunu Oru Kadhal release time. Suriya told Samantha added a lot of energy to the set and respected Nithya Menen for her performance. Suriya then thanked his art directors who never made them wait even for a minute in spite of the fact that 80% of the movie was shot on the sets.  Suriya ended his speech by condemning students who committed suicide on seeing the exam papers. The host then asked Suriya if he was a  good or a bad boy; and the Singam actor jokingly replied saying he was a bad boy till 10 years  then he gradually changed.

The event ended after the formal audio launch. AR Rahman presented the first CD copy to Sivakumar.