Take a look at the recently-released first-look posters of upcoming Tamil film Jackson Durai . If you cannot identify the actors properly, you are forgiven — for, they’re smeared in black and look, well, ghostly. That’s what they probably are in the film (it features Sathyaraj and Sibiraj); for the Tamil tagline goes, “‘Pei’ing guest”, in an obvious reference to the supernatural.
It looks like the ghost is the current superstar in Kollywood, for all stars, even leading ones, seem to be leaning towards scripts revolving around the supernatural.
If Suriya played the protagonist in the recent supernatural comedy thriller Massu , leading actress Nayantara is currently awaiting the release of Maya , a supernatural project in which she plays the main protagonist. Those who’ve watched the trailer seem convinced that it will be a film to watch out for.
While Yaavarum Nalam and Eeram dealt in this area with finesse in 2009, the trend caught on with the edge-of-the-seat Pizza that sparked off many more such projects. Soon, every actor wanted to get on the ghost bandwagon, for it was ensuring reasonable success at the box office.
If Kreshna’s career graph looked up after Yaamirukka Bayamey , which revolves around strange happenings in a hotel, G.V. Prakash decided to opt for a horror comedy ( Darling ) to make his foray into acting.
Arulnithi’s Demonte Colony has clicked big-time with audiences, with many even venturing into the area post the film. And, Raghava Lawrence has almost become synonymous with the horror genre, dishing out a couple of superhits.
At a recent press conference, a journalist asked the actor: “ Neengalum unga star value nambama pei ah thaan nambarengala ?” Everyone just smiled. It certainly looks like the ghost will continue to haunt Tamil cinema.
