Have you seen Tiruchi on the silver screen - or any screen, for that matter?
Soaring temple gopurams, sandy riverbanks, trains chugging over long bridges, and women with tightly plaited hair – with repetition, these images have become stereotypes of a city, which surely has more shades to it.
But a YouTube video, that has crossed 24,000 views within five days of its release, smashes this stereotype without trying too hard. A team of nine graduates, barely out of college, have used Pharrell Williams’ Oscar-nominated chartbuster Happy (from Despicable Me 2 ) to showcase an emerging, urban side of the city. The > Happy Trichy video released on Friendship Day (August 3) as a dedication to the city, has been all the rage among the city’s netizens, and is being feverishly shared on social media.
The familiar with the new
The production, while embracing the youthful face of the city, does not ignore its cherished emblems. The Cauvery bridge, the lofty spire of Our Lady of Lourdes church, Mukkombu, boys in veshtis , Bharathanatyam dancers, and the ubiquitous Rock Fort of course, are all there. But so are a multiplex, an upscale restaurant, a café, a dance studio, stunt bikers, girls in trendy tees and boys in aviator shades.
“We have seen many videos featuring the rural side of Tiruchi, complete with fields and jallikattu ,” says Sathya Parthassarati, the sole girl in the crew. “We wanted to show that Tiruchi has developed more than what people assume, yet retains its traditional essence. Also, it takes people of all ages, genders and jobs to make a Happy Trichy .”
A grinning bajji/bonda vendor, an autorickshaw driver breaking into impromptu jig, a sportive tea-vendor, all agreed immediately when approached to perform for the video, says Alen, a crew member.
The video breaks another stereotype by including two transgender women but portraying them quite differently than the norm. Priyanka, a nursing assistant from the community and Kajol who runs a beauty salon in the city, are shown sashaying happily and confidently.
Slick and snazzy
Pharrell Williams’ song has spawned locally-made videos in cities across the world including Chennai and Coimbatore, closer home. The Tiruchi version took off when Deena Dayalan, on returning to his hometown after graduation, put forward the idea to his friends (the Wolfpack!) “We found ourselves with a month of leisure in July, having just completed college,” says Deena. “We wanted to do something involving our hometown and we settled on the Happy Trichy project.”
The slick production owes its technical strength to Vamsi Krishna and Harish Kumar, both visual communication graduates, credited for cinematography and editing. “We were lucky to have mellow lighting during day and car lights were good enough for the night shots," says Vamsi who shot the video with a Canon 7D DSLR camera.
One sequence that has come in for much appreciation - of two Bharathanatyam dancers performing against the towering Srirangam gopuram - was one of the more difficult shots, reveals Vamsi. “The dancers stood on a small terrace of a house opposite the temple. July being fiercely windy this year, performing without losing their balance was a challenge.” It was shooting in busy areas like the NSB road and Thillai Nagar, that turned out to be an ordeal, recollects Pranoy Roy, one of the direction team. “People would always crowd before the camera, in anticipation. But we enjoyed it all- a few of them spontaneously agreed to shake a leg,” adds Pravesh, his team mate.
In its effort to be all-encompassing, the team has used more than 30 locations including the Railway Station, Mannarpuram, Karumandapam, Crawford, K.K.Nagar.
Though Thiruverembur is a glaring omission, some of the visually appealing shots are from lesser known locations - the new Butterfly Park and Organ Road, near Puthur. But the daunting task of squeezing in all the locations and the 120 people who were part of the shoot to the tune of a three-minute song, fell to Harish, the self-taught editor. “I set myself the goal of ensuring all the happy people we shot in the video, appeared along with the locations where they were filmed in. I enjoyed the challenge.”
High on voltage
There is hardly a dull moment in the high-voltage production, thanks to Francis Lemuel’s choreography - a mix of hip hop, folk, dappankuthu, freestyle, karagam and B-boying. Palaniappan can still feel the thrill of dancing on the highway with cars zooming past at 100 km per hour. “The video is more realistic as it didn’t involve any professional dancers,” feels Pratiksha Gauthaman, who made a trip home from Chennai, just to be part of the collaboration.
Truly heart-warming moments like a young man spiritedly swinging his tennis racket, an 80-year-old sunglasses-sporting couple attempting a few moves and, the best of the lot, a bunch of kids vigorously kicking up sand in a brick kiln, makes this a celebration of not just a Happy Trichy, but also a hip one!
Watch the video here:
