Lyricist Thamarai was the first to arrive at Yaan‘s press meet today. She happily obliged the shutterbugs; posing for a few moments before talking about the song she had written for the movie. “After a long time, I’m composing a situational song. The lyrics have come out well and Harris sir has made it sound good as usual,” she began. As we looked around for Harris sir though, he was nowhere to be found; having chosen to skip the event due to some security concerns. But it didn’t matter then. For at that moment, the movie’s female lead, Thulasi Nair, made an appearance; father in tow. Keeping it short in a peach crop top teamed with a blazer, the actress, accompanied by her father, Rajasekaran Nair, seemed to be reminding us that despite her roles onscreen, Thulasi is in fact, only a 11th grader. She has worked really hard on the movie, she told the audience, “I play an army brat living in Mumbai. Ravi sir has given me a very strong role and I would like to thank him for the opportunity!”
Ravi sir, on the other hand, had his lips pursed about his directorial debut. A question about the plot was met with a brusque “If I tell you the story now, what is the point of showing it onscreen? Please wait for Yaan’s release in theatres! I will answer all possible questions at the movie’s success meet!” He did loosen up enough afterwards to reveal some interesting details. Yaan will be a mass entertainer and will tackle a sensitive human rights issue “which is affecting over 5 lakh people”. Also, Ravi K Chandran had apparently given the script to Abhishek Bachchan first. And the Junior Bachchan read it on his honeymoon, ever so scrupulously. “But there was no development. I got busy with other commitments and it took me 3 years to get the script back from Abhishek and convert it into a Tamil movie!” The director also laughed off all the supposed ‘issues’ that were delaying his movie, “It was unintentional and nothing to do with what some of you guys have been writing about. I was very particular about shooting in Morocco and we changed certain things to accommodate this foreign trip into our budget.”
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As for actor Jiiva, his now infamous dialogue from Siva Manasula Sakthi seemed to follow him everywhere. “Ayyo! Even yesterday someone asked me this question. I have done everything possible to get over that one dialogue, but my fans don’t want me to I guess! Idhukku thaan innikku decent dress potten, ore waste dhaan ponga!” The fans weren’t done with him, though. For, when the actor was asked to choose between his Ko heroine Karthika and Thulasi Nair, he fended them off with a diplomatic “I want to stay in the good books of all heroines, so I’m not going to answer the question. Both of them are equally good actresses, but with markedly different personalities! Karthika is more chilled out while Thulasi seems more driven!”
The event came to an end there; but not long before a “sincere request to the media and audience for continued support and encouragement” was issued.
Yaan is expected t0 release in August 2014; plans are on to dub the movie in Hindi.