Question Hour: The Poojai Press Meet Report

Silverscreen attends the Poojai press meet..

While we were waiting for the Poojai team to arrive at the press meet, one burning question was traded back and forth between the journalists.

Is Shruti Haasan coming today?

The actress was last seen in 3, in 2012. And it’s been about two years since she met the media.

So, her arrival was awaited with bated breath.

But director Hari was the first to appear on the scene, with Vishal and Sathyaraj joining him a minute later. Both actors were colour-coordinated. Incidentally, as it appeared. The wayfarer that Sathyaraj sported was probably a favourite. We didn’t see him remove it, and it certainly complemented his fashion-statement – blue jeans, white shirt and a wayfarer, if you didn’t know.

As there was no sign of Shruti Haasan, Poojai team began their speeches. T Siva from Vendhar Movies was glad that they could acquire the film. “Even a professional producer can’t work like Vishal. Despite being busy, he balances production and acting quite well,” said Siva.

Sathyaraj revealed that for him, working in films these days is like “going on a picnic”. Because he nursed jealousy and unhealthy competition in the early years of his career. “Epdi kavarchikum aabaasathukkum vithyaasam therilayo, appo enakku pottikum poramaikkum therila,” he confessed. So he takes it lightly these days. For his well-being. He is punctual, completes his portions on time and refrains from getting involved in other aspects of filmmaking. “Vishal kooda arattai thaan!” he laughed. Sathyaraj and Vishal have now become great friends, and the former joked,”vayasu vithyasam paakama pazhagiten Vishal kooda. Ellaam pesiten. Vishal, please don’t tell Sibi what we discussed!”

Vishal answered with a bright smile.

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Director Hari explained that he’d always wanted to make a film set in Coimbatore. His dream came true with Poojai. Hari is quite popular for his formulaic way of filmmaking; his flicks always feature an angry young man as the hero, a paavadai-thaavani-clad girl as the heroine, a huge family for each of them, and loads of action sequences. But “Poojai-la aruva kammi, sumo-chase jaasthi,” he laughed. “There are other filmmakers to make different types of movies. My forte is commercial films. And Poojai is no different.”

It was Vishal’s turn to speak next. “Poojai is the biggest release for me. It is going to release in about 350 screens in Tamil Nadu,” he began. But at that moment, Shruti Haasan walked in, clad in a black sari; and the audience switched their attention. Vishal continued on cue, “Shruti looks her best in Poojai and our love-track is well-written. And eppavum aruva thookuven, Poojai-la Shruti-ya thookirken.” And probably because he has been meeting the press quite often these days, Vishal didn’t have anything more to say.

Shruti thanked Vishal for bringing her back to Tamil cinema and fielded questions from the media. The actress seemed to have developed a liking for one-liners. Most of her answers were just a sentence long. Often, she quipped. And sometimes, snapped.

On signing lesser number of films in Tamil: “I come from a multi-cultural family and I am a part of Indian cinema. I will do films in all languages.”

Doing women-centric subjects: “I will accept a role when I connect with it, regardless of my on-screen duration or the importance of the role.”

On the dearth of women-centric films in Tamil cinema: “I don’t do any analysis.”

Being too glamourous in Hindi and Telugu: “I don’t understand the definition for the word ‘glamour’.”

Wanting to have a child out of wed-lock: “Ada ponga pa. I never said such a thing.”