80-544: Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu , is an Indian film director, actor and playback singer in Tamil cinema . In addition, he also worked in Telugu Cinema . After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his first three ventures featuring him in a starring role, failing to release, following which he began appearing in character roles . He entered
160-937: A town or village to screen the films. The first of its kind was established in Madras , called "Edison's Grand Cinemamegaphone". This was due to the fact that electric carbons were used for motion picture projectors. Most of the films screened then were shorts made in the United States and Britain . In 1909, an Englishman, T. H. Huffton, founded Peninsular Film Services in Madras and produced some short films for local audiences. But soon, hour-long films, which narrated dramatic stories, then known as " drama films ", were imported. From 1912 onwards, feature films made in Bombay (now Mumbai ) were also screened in Madras. The era of short films had ended. The arrival of drama films firmly established cinema as
240-496: A cake and eat it too. Fun is certainly the core of all his movies, even when the genres are varied. That is the case with Biriyani as well. It is essentially a murder mystery but Venkat seasons it with his brand of wink wink nudge nudge filmmaking, and turns it into an engaging entertainer". Behindwoods gave 3.25 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Venkat Prabhu's Biriyani while adhering to the director's recipe, has humor, suspense, music, action and glamour in delectable portions resulting in
320-439: A cocktail party and also invites Sugan and Parasuram, where they get drunk. Sugan, who craves biryani, after getting drunk, searches for a biryani shop. There, they both come across Maya, a prostitute. The very next day, they find police cars searching for Varadharajan, who is missing. Meanwhile, Sugan and Parasuram find Varadharajan's corpse in their car trunk. They are blamed for Varadharajan's death and are chased by police, which
400-500: A commercial pot boiler and the build up to the story is slow and steady. The last 20 minutes serves the twist in the tale, and a round of applause to the director to have correlated the events of 2 hours in the final climax". The Hindu wrote, "Intelligent line, sensible humour, particularly at the most unexpected moments, Sakthi Saravanan's contribution with the lens, Silva's noteworthy action choreography and Karthi's energy are scoring points of this Venkat Prabhu offering. Youth should find
480-569: A dance number choreographed by Shobhi during his visit in Chennai. The film's principal photography was to start in August 2012, but was delayed because of changes in the script and the cast. It was then supposed to begin by early October 2012 in Ambur, but was officially commenced on 5 November 2012, following a test shoot on 1 November. The first day of shoot involved scenes between Karthi and Premji, which
560-465: A day to take part in the shooting. Although a 14-day schedule was planned in Hyderabad, the unit returned within three days to Chennai, after facing with opposition from the stunt union of Andhra Pradesh. The crew was allowed to shoot a fight sequence on a train, for which ₹ 40 lakh had been paid in advance, after which they returned to Chennai and resume the shoot there, where new sets had been created at
640-582: A decent market. Tamil films have enjoyed consistent popularity among populations in South East Asia . Since Chandralekha , Muthu was the second Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese (as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja ) and grossed a record $ 1.6 million in 1998. In 2010, Enthiran grossed a record $ 4 million in North America. Many Tamil-language films have premiered or have been selected as special presentations at various film festivals across
720-406: A delicious product". Rediff gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Though the film takes its own sweet time to get a move on, once it gathers momentum, there is no stopping till the end, where there is an exciting climax, as well as an anticlimax, in typical Venkat Prabhu style", calling it "a fun-filled thriller". Indiaglitz gave 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "Through the first half the ingredients make up
800-518: A few months. Once it was demonstrated as a commercial proposition, a Western entrepreneur, Warwick Major, built the first cinema theatre , the Electric Theatre, which still stands. It was a favourite haunt of the British community in Madras. The theatre was shut down after a few years. This building is now part of a post office complex on Anna Salai ( Mount Road ). The Lyric Theatre was also built in
880-514: A fight with his girlfriend Priyanka. Sugan and Parasuram attend a function for a branch opening of one of their offices, where they meet Varadharajan, who is the chief guest for the ceremony. In the meantime, it is shown that a CBI officer named Riyaz Ahmed has been deputed to track Vardharajan's illegal activities. Varadharajan gets impressed with Sugan and later decides to make him his son-in-law, and this decision gets him into an argument with his elder son-in-law Vijaykrishna. Varadharajan later hosts
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#1732854510181960-422: A full-length comedy film, which received mixed response and did fairly well at the box office. In 2011, he directed his biggest project to date, the action thriller Mankatha , featuring Ajith Kumar in the lead role and was later a blockbuster. His next project, Biriyani (2013), starred Karthi and Hansika Motwani . After Venkat Prabhu directed Massu Engira Masilamani , with Suriya and Nayanthara in
1040-635: A global presence, enjoying strong box office collections among Tamil-speaking audiences in Sri Lanka , Malaysia , and Singapore . Tamil films are also distributed throughout the Middle East , Oceania , Europe , North America , parts of Africa , and Japan . The industry also inspired independent filmmaking among Tamil diaspora populations in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and the West . M. Edwards first screened
1120-420: A grand exhibition was organised in Madras . Its major attraction was the screening of short films accompanied by sound. A British company imported a Crone megaphone , made up of a film projector to which a gramophone with a disc containing prerecorded sound was linked, and both were run in unison, producing picture and sound simultaneously. However, there was no synched dialogue . Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu ,
1200-502: A message from the female cop, which makes him realize that she is not a police officer but an assassin. Her next victim is no one other than Varalakshmi, Sugan's sister. At the temple, Sugan's friend, brother-in-law Subbu, and Varalakshmi are died in a car accident, and the female assassin captures Varalakshmi. Sugan gets a call from Vijaykrishna that he needs Varadharajan alive so that he can give Varalakshmi back to Sugan. Sugan decides that Parasu should impersonate Varadharajan alive, since
1280-466: A multilingual directed by H. M. Reddy was released on 31 October 1931, less than seven months after India's first talking motion picture Alam Ara . Tamil cinema has been noted for its advanced narratives and diverse films, with several productions in the 1990s and early 2000s cutting across ethnic and linguistic barriers. Such films include Roja (1992), Indian (1996), Pokkiri (2007), Enthiran (2010). Tamil cinema has since produced some of
1360-622: A permanent cinema house in Madras—Gaiety, in 1914, the first cinema house in Madras to be built by an Indian. He soon added two more, Crown Theatre in Mint and Globe (later called Roxy) in Purasawalkam . Swamikannu Vincent, who had built one of the first cinema halls of South India in Coimbatore , introduced the concept of "Tent Cinema" in which a tent was erected on a stretch of open land close to
1440-402: A playback singer in the film industry. In 1996, he, his brother Premgi Amaren and his childhood friend S. P. B. Charan set up a music band called Next Generation, which also featured Yugendran and Thaman as members, and did several stage performances. The following year, Prabhu played the lead role opposite Sangeetha in a film titled Poonjolai directed by his father Gangai Amaren , but
1520-555: A popular entertainment form. More cinema houses came up in the city. Fascinated by this new entertainment form, an automobile dealer in the Thousand Lights area of Madras, R. Nataraja Mudaliyar , decided to venture into film production. After a few days' training in Pune with the cinematographer Stewart Smith, the official cinematographer of Lord Curzon 's 1903 Durbar, he started a film production concern in 1916. The man who truly laid
1600-574: A script for Suriya . In December 2011, he was signed up by Studio Green, the production company owned by Suriya's cousin K. E. Gnanavelraja, while later the month the director informed that Suriya had agreed to be part of his next film, which he was planning to shoot in 3D . Further more, the media carried reports that it would be a bilingual , made simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu, and feature Telugu actor Ravi Teja , Sonam Kapoor and Taapsee Pannu in other lead roles. In April 2012, while Venkat Prabhu
1680-576: A selection of silent films at the Victoria Public Hall in Madras in 1897 during the British Raj . The selected films all featured non-fictional subjects; they were mostly photographed records of day-to-day events. The film scholar Stephen Hughes points out that within a few years there were regular ticketed shows in a hall in Pophams Broadway, started by one Mrs. Klug, but this lasted only for
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#17328545101811760-460: A standard deviation of ±10 lakh tickets during 2011–16. The Chennai film industry produced the first nationally distributed film across India in 1948 with Chandralekha . They have one of the widest overseas distribution, with large audience turnout from the Tamil diaspora . They are distributed to various parts of Asia, Africa, Western Europe, North America and Oceania. Many successful Tamil films have been remade by other film industries. It
1840-572: A studio, the first in south India, was set up in Madras at 10 Millers Road, Kilpauk. He called it the India Film Company. Rangavadivelu, an actor from Suguna Vilasa Sabha, a theatre company then, was hired to train the actors. Thirty-five days later, the first feature film made in south India, The Extermination of Keechakan / Keechakavatham , based on an episode from the Mahabharata , was released produced and directed by R. Nataraja, who established
1920-682: A successful photographer , took over the equipment after the exhibition and set up a tent cinema near the Madras High Court . With this equipment, he screened the short films Pearl Fish and Raja's Casket in the Victoria Public Hall. When this proved successful, he screened the films in a tent set up in Esplanade. These tent events were the true precursors of the cinema shows. Naidu travelled with this unit to Burma (now Myanmar ) and Sri Lanka , and when he had gathered enough money, he put up
2000-704: Is estimated by the Manorama Yearbook 2000 (a popular almanac) that over 5,000 Tamil films were produced in the 20th century. Tamil films have also been dubbed into other languages, thus reaching a much wider audience. There has been a growing presence of English in dialogue and songs in Chennai films. It is not uncommon to see movies that feature dialogue studded with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences. Some movies are also simultaneously made in two or three languages (either using subtitles or several soundtracks). Chennai's film composers have popularised their highly unique, syncretic style of film music across
2080-521: Is not excellent because it gets too starchy due to unwanted ingredients. While the use of situational comedy works to some extent but what we see in some scenes is not humorous but downright awful and the double entendres directed at women are uncalled for". Another reviewer from The Hindu wrote, "It's (the) irreverent fun that makes this film different from regular thrillers. Despite some good ingredients and reasonably good cooking methods, there's something that doesn’t come together and stops this from being
2160-416: Is the music director Ilayaraaja and his cousins are the music composers Yuvan Shankar Raja , Karthik Raja and singer Bhavatharini . S. P. B. Charan, producer of Prabhu's first directorial venture Chennai 600028 , is his very close friend and they both have worked together on several projects. He did his schooling at St. Bede's school in Chennai. On 11 September 2001, Venkat Prabhu married Rajalakshmi,
2240-490: Is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language , the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu . It is nicknamed Kollywood , a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam , a neighbourhood in Chennai , and Hollywood . The first Tamil silent film , Keechaka Vadham , was directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. The first Tamil talking feature film , Kalidas ,
2320-440: Is the starting scene of the movie. Sugan and Parasu go to their friend's house, and Parasu sends a picture of Maya to his friends. The next day, one of their friends finds Maya at Egmore Railway Station. Sugan comes there, and Maya confesses that she spiked their drinks upon a police officer's orders. As Sugan tries to get more information, a female cop stops Maya from telling the truth and later kills her. Back at home, Sugan gets
2400-463: The Biriyani quite tasty". hindustantimes wrote, "this Biriyani is hard to digest." Sify wrote, " Biriyani is the blandest one you must have had in recent times. The larger problem here is that this film doesn't have the crackle and pop of a rom-com, a thriller or even cleverly written comic lines". IANS gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Venkat Prabhu's Biriyani despite being fairly satisfying
2480-738: The Central Board of Film Certification alone were eligible for tax exemption and those with an "A" certificate could not fit into this category. There are three major roles in the Tamil film value chain viz producer, distributor and exhibitor. The distributor purchases theatrical distribution rights from the producer for exhibiting the film in a defined territory. The distributor performs enhanced functions such as: There are three popular approaches to transfer of distribution rights via distribution contracts: There are four popular approaches to transfer of exhibition rights via exhibition contracts: Film studios in Chennai are bound by legislation, such as
Venkat Prabhu - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-412: The Madras audience. The legendary Otraivadai drama theatre had been built in 1872 itself in Mint. Many drama halls had come up in the city where short silent films were screened in the afternoon and plays were enacted in the night. The scene changed in 1934 when Madras got its first sound studio. By this time, all the cinema houses in Madras had been wired for sound. Narayanan, who had been active during
2640-403: The Tamil -language only. This is in accordance with Government Order 72 passed on 22 July 2006. The first film to be released after the new Order was Unakkum Enakkum . The original title had been Something Something Unakkum Ennakkum , a half-English and a half-Tamil title. In July 2011, strict norms on entertainment tax were passed which stated that films which were given a "U" certificate by
2720-483: The film projector and silent films from the Frenchman Du Pont and set up a business as film exhibitor . Soon, he tied up with Pathé , a well-known pioneering film-producing company, and imported projectors . This helped new cinema houses to sprout across the presidency . In later years, he produced talkies and also built a cinema in Coimbatore . To celebrate the event of King George V 's visit in 1909,
2800-473: The #TheGoat film will also have an English dubbed theatrical release and other Indian languages dubbed release using Vijay's voice in AI technology. Whistle Podu song remix alternative version will be released along with film release rather than the original version. Venkat Prabhu is the son of director-turned-music-director Gangai Amaran and older brother to actor, singer and music director Premgi Amaran . His uncle
2880-468: The 2004 American film Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle , though Prabhu was lauded for making creative changes to the story. The film became a commercial success and recovered its budget at the box-office. The movie starts with Sugan and his friend Parasuram a.k.a. Parasu being chased by cops. The flashback shows Sugan as a womanizer who has a weakness for Biryani , and Parasuram is his childhood friend. Sugan's womaniser attitude always gets him into
2960-660: The AVM studios, the Binny Mills and the Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR). Venkat Prabhu further said that the crew would be heading to Spain and Portugal in May to shoot two songs involving Karthi and Hansika. By mid-June, the entire talkie portion had been canned. The final song, choreographed by Kalyan, was shot in July 2013. Although the team had planned to shoot the song in a foreign country, it
3040-903: The Cinematography Film Rules of 1948, the Cinematography Act of 1952, and the Copyright Act of 1957. In Tamil Nadu , cinema ticket prices are regulated by the government . Single screen theatres may charge a maximum of ₹ 50, while theatres with more than three screens may charge a maximum of ₹ 120 per ticket. Biriyani (film) Biriyani is a 2013 Indian Tamil -language action comedy thriller film directed by Venkat Prabhu and produced by Studio Green . It stars Karthi and Hansika Motwani alongside an ensemble cast including Premji , Nassar , Ramki , Sampath Raj , Madhumitha , Jayaprakash , Prem , and Mandy Takhar (in her Tamil debut). Yuvan Shankar Raja composed
3120-503: The India Film Company Limited. Despite a century of increasing box office takings, Tamil cinema remains informal. Nevertheless, there are few exceptions like Modern Theatres, Gemini Studios , AVM and Sri Thenandal Films that survived beyond 100 productions. In 2017, opposing the dual taxation of GST (28%) and entertainment tax (30%), Tamilnadu Theatre Owners Association announced indefinite closure of all cinemas in
3200-601: The Mount Road area. This venue boasted a variety of events, including plays in English, Western classical music concerts, and ballroom dances . Silent films were also screened as an additional attraction. Swamikannu Vincent , a railway draftsman from Tiruchirapalli , became a travelling exhibitor in 1905. He showed short movies in a tent in Esplanade , near the present Parry's Corner, using carbide jet-burners for projection. He bought
3280-453: The album would be directly released to stores on 21 August 2013. But the audio launch eventually happened at an undisclosed FM station on 21 August. The audio received positive response from critics as well as audience. Although costume designer Vasuki Baskar wrote on her social media account that the first look of the film would be released on 13 November, during the Diwali festival, it
Venkat Prabhu - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-457: The benefit of entertainment tax exemption, but the committee rejected the appeal and awarded the film with a U/A certificate. Biriyani released in 1050 screens worldwide on 20 December 2013 with tough competition from Dhoom 3 and Endrendrum Punnagai . Biriyani received positive reviews from critics. Among the positive reviews were from The Times of India gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Venkat Prabhu definitely knows how to have
3440-424: The comedy thriller film Saroja (2008), the title being derived from a hit number from Chennai 600028 , which also featured an ensemble cast including Charan and Premgi. The film followed the journey of four young men who, by taking a diversion off the main road, land into the hands of a kidnapper gang; it received positive response from critics and at the box office as well. He followed it up with Goa (2010),
3520-543: The constructed nature of their work so that the realistic narrative was wholly dominant, Indian filmmakers made no attempt to conceal the fact that what was shown on the screen was a creation, an illusion, a fiction. However, they demonstrated how this creation intersected with people's day-to-day lives in complex ways. By the end of the 1930s, the State of Madras legislature passed the Entertainment Tax Act 1939 . In 1916,
3600-465: The daughter of dance teacher K. J. Sarasa, and now has a daughter named Shivani. Shivani has already sung a song for the album Thaaaii when she was 5 years old. Venkat Prabhu frequently works with the same actors and crew members, most prominently Premgi Amaren, Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan , and editor Praveen K. L. Only people that have worked in three or more of his films are listed. Tamil cinema Tamil cinema
3680-454: The director, film's lead actor Karthi agreed to sing a song titled "Mississippi" for the soundtrack, making his debut in playback singing , which was recorded in December 2012. In late July 2013, four leading contemporary music directors, G. V. Prakash Kumar , S. Thaman , Vijay Antony and D. Imman , were roped in to sing the number "Thirumbi Vaa", which was termed as a "motivational song" by
3760-424: The director. Two remixes were produced by Yuvan Shankar Raja himself, for the first time remixing his own composition, and Premgi Amaren, respectively. The audio rights of the soundtrack were acquired by Sony Music in May 2013. On 16 August, the audio tracks were leaked online causing an uproar from the team. It was later announced that, due to the leak, the planned audio launch was subsequently cancelled and that
3840-572: The early cinema were the cultural influences of the country. The Tamil -language was the medium in which many plays and stories were written since the ages as early as the Cholas . They were highly stylised and nature of the spectacle was one which could attract the people. Along with this, music and dance were one of the main entertainment sources. There is a strong Indian tradition of narrating mythology, history, fairy tales and so on through song and dance. Whereas Hollywood filmmakers strove to conceal
3920-602: The film had two female leads and that Neetu Chandra had been approached to play the other lead. Venkat Prabhu was also keen on casting Bollywood actress Diana Penty for the role, which finally went to British Indian model and actress in Punjabi films, Mandy Takhar, who said that she played a "strong, modern girl", describing her character as "sexy and sensuous", that she said was "not what I am". Takhar, who Venkat Prabhu zeroed in after seeing her photos from her Hindi film Bumboo , added that she had allotted 20 days of shooting for
4000-514: The film on 11 October 2013 coinciding with Dusshera festival But the date was changed to January 2014, and later to 20 December 2013. In early August 2013, ATMUS Entertainment announced that it had acquired the US theatrical screening rights for the film. The film was given U/A certificate by the Censor Board . The film's producer initially went to the revision committee to get a U certificate to enjoy
4080-499: The film was cancelled in mid-production and attempts to revive and release the film by the late-2000s were unsuccessful. Prabhu starred in two more ventures, alongside his friends S. P. B. Charan and Yugendran; Wanted , directed by Premgi Amaren, and Agathiyan 's Kadhal Samrajyam , both failing to release as well. Venkat Prabhu was then approached to essay supporting roles, with April Maadhathil (2002) becoming his first release. He went on to play character roles in nearly ten films,
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#17328545101814160-489: The film, had to put on weight for the role and had done a pole dance in the song "Mississippi". Further more, sources indicated that the newly married couple Sneha and Prasanna had been roped in for the film, although Venkat Prabhu refused to comment about this. Later, in an interview to The Hindu , Prasanna stated that he played an important role in it. Ramki was recruited in November 2012 for an important role. Meena
4240-553: The first Tamil film to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film , the feat was repeated by Kanchivaram in 2007. Tamil films enjoy significant patronage in neighbouring Indian states like Kerala , Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh , Maharashtra , Gujarat and New Delhi . In Kerala and Karnataka the films are directly released in Tamil but in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh they are generally dubbed into Telugu where they have
4320-480: The foundations of Tamil cinema was A. Narayanan. After a few years in film distribution, he set up a production company in Madras, the General Pictures Corporation, popularly known as GPC. Beginning with The Faithful Wife / Dharmapathini (1929), GPC made about 24 feature films. GPC functioned as a film school and its alumni included names such as Sundara Rao Nadkarni and Jiten Banerji. The studio of GPC
4400-562: The globe, such as Mani Ratnam 's Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Vasanthabalan 's Veyyil (2006) and Ameer Sultan 's Paruthiveeran (2007). Kanchivaram (2009) was selected to be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival . Tamil films have been a part of films submitted by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language on eight occasions, next only to Hindi. Mani Ratnam's Nayakan (1987)
4480-407: The lead role. He directed Chennai 600028 II , the sequel of the 2007 blockbuster Chennai 600028 , and it was released on 9 December 2016 to positive reviews. The action thriller The Greatest of All Time , starring Vijay and music by Yuvan Shankar Raja , was officially announced in May 2023. The film is bankrolled by AGS Entertainment , which marks their second collaboration with Vijay and
4560-514: The most commercially successful actors, directors and films of Indian cinema. By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939. Madras (now Chennai), then became a secondary hub for Hindi cinema , other South Indian film industries, as well as for Sri Lankan cinema . Over the last quarter of the 20th century, Tamil films established
4640-630: The most notable ventures being N. Linguswamy 's Ji , starring Ajith Kumar , and the Perarasu -directed Sivakasi , featuring Vijay in the lead role. In 2008, he worked in Seeman 's Vaazhthugal alongside Madhavan in his last credited appearance to date. He also played lead roles in Samuthirakani 's directorial debut Unnai Charanadaindhen and Gnabagam Varuthey (2007), both co-starring Charan. In 2007, Venkat Prabhu ventured into film directing with
4720-402: The project by mid-October 2012 due to "changes in the role and script". After Gangopadhyay's exit, Venkat Prabhu expressed interest in casting Nayantara for the role. while later the month Hansika Motwani was finalized to play the leading lady of the film. Motwani told that she played a journalist named Priyanka, while classifying the film as a "black comedy thriller". Sources reported that
4800-429: The real Varadharajan is dead. He comes there with Parasu but finds the assassin trying to kill Sugan. Vijaykrishna wants Varadharajan back, but it was not him who called Sugan. Sugan and Vijaykrishna get into a fight along with Sampath, who gets in a fight with the hit-woman. Another police officer, ACP Vikram, kills the female assassin and returns Varalakshmi safely. A few days later, at Varadharajan's funeral, Sugan learns
4880-424: The score and soundtrack of Biriyani , which marks his 100th film, while Sakthi Saravanan and Praveen - Srikanth handled cinematography and editing, respectively. Filming started in November 2012, lasted for over nine months and took place primarily at Chennai , Hyderabad and Ambur . Biriyani was released on 20 December 2013 to mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. The film was reported to be inspired by
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#17328545101814960-574: The silent era, founded Srinivasa Cinetone in which his wife worked as the sound recordist. Srinivasa Kalyanam (1934), directed by Narayanan, was the first sound film (talkie) produced in Madras. The second sound studio to come up in Madras was Vel Pictures, started by M. D. Rajan on Eldams Road in the Dunmore bungalow, which belonged to the Raja of Pithapuram . Before long, more sound studios came up. Thirty-six talkies were made in Madras in 1935. The main impacts of
5040-459: The soundtrack album will have "at least 8 to 9 songs". Besides poet Vaali and the director's father Gangai Amaren , who regularly work in Prabhu's films, Niranjan Bharathi, who penned the song "Nee Naan" in the director's previous venture Mankatha , and Madhan Karky were brought on board to write the lyrics, the latter collaborating the first time with Yuvan Shankar Raja. After being convinced by
5120-430: The sports comedy film Chennai 600028 , produced by S. P. B. Charan, that revolved around a street cricket team from a suburban area in Chennai, with its players being portrayed by 11 newcomers, including his brother Premgi. The film emerged as a sleeper hit , garnering high critical acclaim and becoming labelled a " cult classic " in the following years, which led to the lead cast growing in popularity. He next directed
5200-548: The spotlight for the first time when he turned director with the summer hit Chennai 600028 (2007). He achieved further commercial successes with his subsequent directorials Saroja (2008), Goa (2010), Mankatha (2011), Biriyani (2013), Masss (2015), Maanaadu (2021) and The Greatest of All Time (2024). His father Gangai Amaren is a film director and music director. Following his return to India, Prabhu began singing for demos by his cousins, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Karthik Raja , and started his career as
5280-418: The state from 3 July 2017. The strike has been called off and the cinemas will be playing the movies starting Friday 7 July 2017. Government has formed a committee to decide on the existence of state's 30% entertainment tax. It was reported that, per day business loss during the strike was around ₹ 20 crores. Annual admissions in Chennai multiplexes and single screens averaged 1.1 crore tickets with
5360-413: The truth about Varadharajan's death. Avinash was in love with Varadharajan's daughter for money only, but Sugan and Parasu inadvertently stopped their love on the way to the new branch opening. Avinash uses his brother to get his love back by bringing Sugan and Parasu using Maya, and that Maya used drugs to make Sugan and Parasu very drunk. Then, the assassin comes by, killing Maya so that she does not tell
5440-424: The truth to Sugan. Sugan figures out that it was no one other than Vikram, Avinash's brother, who was behind everything. Soon Riyaz and Vijaykrishna also find out the truth. Riyaz tells Sugan to kill Vikram, Sugan fights with Vikram, and they both fall from the office into the swimming pool below. What happens to either of them is unknown. Following the release of Mankatha , Venkat Prabhu was reported to be writing
5520-509: The world. Quite often, Tamil movies feature Madras Tamil , a colloquial version of Tamil spoken in Chennai . Keechaka Vadham (1918) was the first silent film made in South India . Kalidas (1931) was the first Tamil talkie film made in 1931. Kalava (1932) was the first full-length talkie made entirely in Tamil. Nandanar (1935) was the first film for American film director Ellis R. Dungan . Balayogini released in 1937
5600-573: Was also approached by the director to play a pivotal role, but she declined the offer. Nithin Sathya and Sampath Raj, two regulars in Venkat Prabhu's films, joined the cast in December 2012. Later additions to the cast included Prem, television actor and mimic Badava Gopi, playing the role of a cameraman, Uma Riyaz Khan, Madhumitha, Bangalore socialite Sangeetha Gopal, and Sam Anderson . Reports suggested that Canadian film critic Review Raja had done
5680-524: Was carried out on a set inside a house near the Kodambakkam railway station in Chennai. The short Chennai schedule was followed by schedules in Senji , Ambur and Pondicherry. A set of a hotel worth ₹ 1 crore was erected in Chennai, where action scenes and songs were shot for the film. Motion capture technology was used to film a fight sequence involving Karthi, Nitin Sathya, Murugadas and Panchu Subbu which
5760-436: Was considered to be first children's film of South India. It is estimated by the Manorama Yearbook 2000 (a popular almanac) that over 5,000 Tamil films were produced in the 20th century. Tamil films have also been dubbed into other languages, thus reaching a much wider audience. There has been a growing presence of English in dialogue and songs in Chennai films. In 1991, Marupakkam directed by K.S. Sethu Madhavan , became
5840-487: Was eventually filmed in Meenambakkam , Chennai, where two sets had been created, with Venkat Prabhu intending to shoot the song in the style of a Broadway musical , who went on to add that "the backgrounds in the song will keep changing throughout". Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the soundtrack and film score for Biriyani , continuing his association with Venkat Prabhu, which will be his 100th film. Prabhu has stated that
5920-461: Was given an "almost parallel role" as the lead character's best friend in Biriyani . For the lead female role, the production team first approached Samantha . Bollywood actresses Parineeti Chopra and Ileana D'Cruz were also considered for the role, but in early July 2012, Bengali actress Richa Gangopadhyay was selected for the role, who said that she played "a typical girl in it; someone who's mischievous and not-so innocent". However, she left
6000-688: Was housed in the Chellapalli bungalow on Thiruvottiyur High Road in Madras. This company, which produced the most Tamil silent films, had branches in Colombo , Rangoon and Singapore . The Ways of Vishnu / Vishnu Leela , which R. Prakasa made in 1932, was the last silent film produced in Madras. The silent era of south Indian cinema has not been documented well. When the talkies appeared, film producers had to travel to Bombay or Calcutta to make films. Most films of this early period were celluloid versions of well-known stage plays. Company dramas were popular among
6080-545: Was included in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list. Average annual film output in Tamil film industry peaked in 1985. The Tamil film market accounts for approximately 0.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the state of Tamil Nadu . For the purpose of entertainment taxes, returns have to be filed by the exhibitors weekly (usually each Tuesday). The Government of Tamil Nadu made provisions for an entertainment tax exemption for Tamil films having titles in words from
6160-500: Was launched on 16 July 2012 after a small pooja , but filming did not start until November 2012, since Venkat Prabhu was reworking his script and the casting was not finished yet. He made it clear that the film planned with Suriya earlier was an "entirely different script", and that he would work on that project later, while revealing that Biriyani' s script was initially intended for actor Vijay . Venkat Prabhu's brother Premgi Amaren, who had been part of all his brother's ventures,
6240-577: Was shot with a multiple camera setup at Puducherry . The unit then took a break as Karthi moved on to shoot his other film All in All Azhagu Raja simultaneously, and filming was continued on 30 March 2013 in Hyderabad. 60% of the film had been completed at that time, according to the director. Vijay Vasanth, Vaibhav Reddy, Ashwin Kakumanu, Aravind Akash and Mahat Raghavendra, who had all been part of Venkat Prabhu's Mankatha , dropped by Hyderabad for
6320-594: Was still working on the script, giving it the final touch, Suriya chose to work with director Hari on the sequel to his Singam first after completing Maattrraan , which prompted Venkat Prabhu to make another film for Studio Green instead with Suriya's brother Karthi in the lead. The film was named Biriyani , and the director stated that the same team of his previous four films, comprising music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan, editors Praveen K. L. and N. B. Srikanth and costume designer Vasuki Bhaskar , would work on Biriyani . The film
6400-457: Was unveiled on 15 December 2012 at Yuvan Shankar Raja's concert in Malaysia. A 75-second teaser of the film was released on 25 May 2013, on the occasion of Karthi's birthday. The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV . Studio Green initially finalised 6 September 2013 as the release date, to be coinciding with the 2013 Vinayagar Chaturthi festival. The makers then planned to release
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