A story of a film is either developed through a spark of an idea or is inspired by a journey of life. The story then gets transformed into a one-liner which is then elaborated to a full-length script. But in case of Venkat Prabhu, that one-liner is NOT what the film’s story is all about. The one-liner did impress Suriya but the film’s story or treatment does not revolve around that idea. And that’s precisely how Masss was developed.
A press meet was held today (May 12, 2015) at Residency Towers, Chennai addressed by the Masss team comprising K. E. Gnanavel Raja, Venkat Prabhu, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Suriya, R. D. Rajasekhar, Sriman, Praveen K. L. Premgi Amaren, Vasuki Bhaskar, Sanjay and so on.
Excerpts from the press meet are as follows
K. E. Gnanavel Raja
Not just as a producer of the film, Gnanavel Raja also spoke as a dear friend of Venkat Prabhu. He said, ‘’What will happen when a group of schoolmates join together and make a film? It will be fun and exciting. This is precisely what happened in this project as all of us were schoolmates and we fought so much with each other during the shoot. It was indeed fun''.
He added, ''With very talented assistants from all the departments, this film has come out really well. Hope it makes the impact it set out to create’’.
Karunas
This dedicated actor said, ‘’My first film Nanda was with Suriya and today Masss marks my 101st film again with Suriya and my 100th film was with his brother in Komban. Association with Suriya is very special for me’’. While the crew was strictly not allowed to speak anything about the film, Karunas probably tried to give us a hint when he said, ‘’I have watched a lot of horror movies and have always wanted to act in one’’.
Premgi Amaran
One of the few outspoken personalities is Premgi Amaran and he was seen very enthused about this project. Like everyone else who thought Suriya was a very serious person, Premji felt the same way until he met him in the sets. As a closing remark he looked at Suriya and funnily said, ‘’I think it was super fun working with you, I guess we should get started to work in Masss 2’’.
Venkat Prabhu
The story behind the story of Masss was finally unraveled by 'Mr Cool’ director Venkat Prabhu. He said, ‘’So one day during the shoot of Biriyani, I casually spoke to Gnanavel Raja sir about a story. I just told him one line about the film. But without my knowledge he told Suriya about it and Suriya immediately called me to talk about the film. Since it was Suriya, I could no way go to with that one line. Hence, I changed the entire concept that would suit Suriya’s personality and then told him the story’’.
For a director like Venkat Prabhu, working with Suriya was completely a new experience. He said, ‘’Yes, I was very scared each time I went on to tell him a scene because he would ask me so many questions. The story, film, script and the character are the only thing that goes in his mind. He would keep thinking about it, so I had to double work on my script to make it sound sensible. I am finally going to tell a 'story' through Masss. I have taken a lot of efforts while writing this film unlike my other movies’’.
He added, ‘’During the initial days of shooting Suriya would go to his caravan after every scene but I used to pull him out and make him open up. We all used to talk so much that even a silent person like Suriya was pushed into talking. At the later stages of shooting, I think Suriya started to like our gang as he came out of the van to spend time with us’’.
What can we expect from this film? He said, ‘’This is going to be a film that will cater to all range of audience including kids. Because we have made sure that this is a kids centric movie which also appeals to the youth. There are no alcohol or smoking scenes in this film’’.
Suriya
Finally when the Masss man Suriya arrived after everybody praised him for his efforts, he said, ‘’I am actually not all that serious, I am fun too’’. About the experience working with Venkat Prabhu, he said, ‘’Well towards the end of the shoot I never went to the caravan because I always had my doubts if the next scene would even happen or not. I sat with them so that I could push them into moving on to the next scene’’. And the crowd broke out laughing.
When asked about the title Masss, this ace actor said, ‘’Well it is very simple, the character’s name is Massilamani and hence it is Masss. It has no other complicated reason’’.
He added, ’’Every director will have their own comfort genre to work around and their treatment will also be the same. But Venkat is not like that. He tries different genres and his treatment for every film is very different and unique. That’s what pulled me into working for his movie’’.
The session ended with everyone else talking about their experience working with this crew and thanked each other for their earnest contribution towards making Masss.
