On Wednesday, it was announced that Putham Pudhu Kaalai, an anthology of five Tamil shorts featuring stories of love, new beginnings, second chances and a glimmer of hope, will be released on Amazon Prime Video on October 16. This is the OTT platform’s first Tamil anthology, and will be released in over 200 countries. The segments, which are set in and filmed during the lockdown, will be directed by Suhasini Maniratnam, Sudha Kongara, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Rajiv Menon and Karthik Subbaraj.
As per the statement, Sudha Kongara’s segment is titled Ilamai Idho Idho, starring Jayaram, his son Kalidas, Urvashi and Kalyani Priyadarshan. Gautham Menon’s short is titled Avarum Naanum/Avalum Naanum, featuring MS Bhaskar and Ritu Varma. Suhasini Maniratnam has directed as well as starred in Coffee, Anyone? which also stars Anu Hasan and Shruti Haasan. Rajiv Menon’s Reunion stars Andrea Jeremiah, Leela Samson and Sikkil Gurucharan. Karthik Subbaraj’s short is titled Miracle and features Bobby Simha and Muthukumar.
Putham Pudhu Kaalai was shot in compliance with rules and regulations set by the Film Employees’ Federation of South India (FEFSI) for filming during the ‘Unlock’ phase. “Putham Pudhu Kaalai was born with the intent of talking about hope, love and new beginnings and the fact that art finds expression in the most challenging times,” said Aparna Purohit, Head of India Originals, Amazon Prime Video, “With Putham Pudhu Kaalai, we are delighted to bring to our customers a unique offering by some of the best creative visionaries from the Tamil entertainment industry."
5 of your favorite storytellers bring you 5 heartwarming stories!#PuthamPudhuKaalai, October 16.@menongautham @Sudhakongara_of @DirRajivMenon @hasinimani @karthiksubbaraj pic.twitter.com/mb4vfQJKpr
— amazon prime video IN (@PrimeVideoIN) September 30, 2020
It was recently rumoured that Netflix is coming up with an anthology series titled Navarasa, bankrolled by Mani Ratnam. This project will mark the directorial debut of actors Arvind Swami and Siddharth, who will direct one episode each apart from Gautham Menon, Bejoy Nambiar, Karthick Naren and KV Anand among others. It is yet unknown if Rathnam will be directing an episode himself. There are also reports that Sudha Kongara and Ponram might come on board to direct an episode. Apparently, part of the income from the series will be given to workers of Tamil industry, who have been unemployed for the last few months due to the coronavirus pandemic. As per the casting, Suriya and Fahadh Faasil are likely to feature in two episodes. If Suriya comes on board, this will be his OTT debut. Vijay Sethupathi, Dulquer Salmaan and Parvathy are also expected to feature in the series.
(Content provided by Digital Native)