What’s common between actor Suriya, director Venkat Prabhu, actor Premgi Amaren, music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja and producer Gnanavel Raja, other than the fact that they’re working on a film titled Masss now?
They’re all from the same school — St. Bede’s. So, working on their current project, which sees the actor-director joining hands for the first time, was pretty much like going to school. And having fun.
“It was pretty much that,” summed up Gnanavel Raja at the press meet of the film, “We had some good fun while working on this project.”
That’s the way it is mostly with director Venkat Prabhu’s offerings. If Biriyani starring Karthi was a ‘diet’, Mankatha starring Ajith was a ‘game’. And with Masss , he promises a ‘sixer’. “This took shape a while ago when I told the producer a line encapsulating the story. That line, unfortunately, is not in this final film,” he quipped, adding, “Once we cast Suriya, we knew it was a huge project. I needed to do justice, and so, for the first time, I have actually worked on a story for the film!”
So, how did the two get together? “Suriya wanted to have fun, and I wanted to learn. That’s perhaps how this happened,” smiled the filmmaker.
Masss , described by the team as a ‘spooky film’, will see the actor playing a character called Masilamani. “This is not a horror flick, it’s a spooky subject,” says Suriya, “Executing the idea we had in mind in an entertaining manner was a challenge.” That was possible, thanks to the bond between him and the director. “Before shooting for this, I had a word with my brother Karthi, who has earlier worked with Venkat in Biriyani . He just told me, ‘VP is a good actor. Just watch his delivery and modulation when he explains the scene, and you should be able to pull it off.’ That’s what I did.”
The film, which hits screens on May 29, has Nayantara and Pranitha providing the oomph quotient. It also stars two directors — Samuthirakani and Parthepan — in key roles. “Directing a filmmaker, especially someone who launched me (Samuthirakani), was a different experience. But, if this has got the stamp of these two directors, it says something, doesn’t it?”
