The shooting for the Mani Ratnam directorial Chekka Chivantha Vaanam has come to a halt following the strike called by the Tamil Film Producers Council.
While the team is waiting for the strike to be called off to resume shooting, we hear from reliable sources that Mani Ratnam had completed four weeks of shooting, in which he has shot some important sequences.
Reports say that the film will have a wedding sequence featuring Jyothika and Arvind Swamy that was shot recently at a location on the ECR. Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, which is based on industrial and environmental pollution, is expected to be wrapped in three months and the film is likely to release this year. Various industry sources have confirmed that the film will be an action-thriller and a departure from the filmmaker’s usual style of films.
The film features an ensemble cast of stars, including Arvind Swamy, Jyothika, Simbu, Vijay Sethupathi, Arun Vijay, Aditi Rao Hydari, Aishwarya Rajesh, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Mansoor Ali Khan and Thiagarajan. We hear that Arvind Swamy, Simbu, Vijay Sethupathi and Arun Vijay will be seen playing siblings in this flick. Reports indicate that Vijay Sethupathi plays the role of a police officer and Aravind Swamy will portray a politician.
In a recent interview, actor Simbu revealed how Mani Ratnam treated him on the sets. He said, “Mani sir treated me like a baby. He has heard so much about me turning up late to the shooting. But when he saw me at the shooting spot ahead of everyone, he was shocked. In fact, we have completed the schedule well ahead of time. He is class apart and it is one of the best units that I’ve worked with. (sic)”
The film is produced jointly by Mani Ratnam’s Madras Talkies and A Subhashkaran’s Lyca Productions on a huge budget. Mani’s usual collaborators have been roped in: double Oscar-winning AR Rahman to compose the music, lensman Santosh Sivan (it’ll be his sixth collaboration with Ratnam) and Sreekar Prasad for editing. Dhilip Subbarayan is the stunt choreographer with Sharmishta Roy roped in for production design and Eka Lakhani for designing the costumes. The film, which will be a Tamil-Telugu bilingual, is titled Nawab in Telugu. Ratnam has pinned high hopes on this project following the debacle of Kaatru Veliyidai at the box office last year.
With the ongoing strike, the shooting of Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, which went on the floors in mid-February, will be stalled until further notice.
(Content provided by Digital Native)