After gaining enough experience under director Jeeva Shankar during the making of Naan , Robert S. Raaj decided to make his directorial debut with Kalam , along with producer P. K. Chandran of Arul Movies. “I had done some advertising commercial work for him and he was quite convinced that I could make a feature film. His son, Subish Chandran, had a story ready with screenplay and dialogues. I have made this into Kalam , a film that can be broadly classified as a suspense thriller. The film has six main characters played by Srini (appearances in Thalaivan and Madrasapattinam ), Amjad, Lakshmipriya, Pooja, Kani and Madhusudhan,” says Robert S. Raaj.
Focus on sibling love
His last film, Sindhu Samaveli , (2010) stirred up controversy with its content — an illicit relationship between a girl and her father-in-law. Now, director Sami is readying Kangaroo for release, which focuses on a brother-sister relationship. “I would like to make it clear that there is nothing illicit about this. I am trying to bring back the passion of yesteryear films such as Pasamalar . A feel-good film, Kangaroo ’s screenplay has been given a unique treatment to make it suitable for family audiences,” says Sami. “I have cast Arjuna (who played Trisha’s brother in VTV ) as the hero with Priyanka as his sister and Varsha as his girlfriend. Playback singer Srinivas has set to tune five songs penned by Vairamuthu,” says Sami.
In a different role
As a child, Satish Jupiter dreamt of becoming a police officer but sadly, it never materialised. “The dream came somewhat true when director Hari, a close family friend, offered me cop roles in films such as Arul, Vel and Singham. In Hari’s upcoming Poojai , though, I play a henchman to the villain played by Bollywood actor Mukesh Tiwari,” says Satish. Appearing mostly in white shirts with folded sleeves, he may have few lines to deliver but has managed to make his presence felt in a role very different from his earlier ones. “I have thoroughly enjoyed the fight sequences, especially the ones taken in artificial rain when Vishal gate-crashes the villain’s house,” says Satish.
