No one can stop good films irrespective of their release dates: Udhay

CHENNAI: We meet Udhayanidhi Stalin at a city hotel. Next to him is a man seated sporting a thick moustache and is wearing aviator sunglasses. As we take a closer look at him, Udhayanidhi quips, “You thought he is Mysskin right? That’s Magizh Thirumeni.” Magizh has a good laugh and so do we. The conversation now veers towards Kalaga Thalaivan and the title has raised a few eyebrows. “Kalagam also means war in Tamil. King Mahendra Pallavan was called Kalaga Priyan because he loved warring. Sepoy Kalagam took place in Vellore when we fought the British. In the story, Udhayanidhi is a rebel with cause. It is an apolitical film. He plays a software professional. Okay, I have told you enough and I cannot tell you the entire story,” pauses Magizh . “He cannot obviously because he hasn’t told me the story till now,” says Udhay, who is in his element. He quickly adds, “Jokes apart, Magizh first came to me for Thadam. I loved the story and insisted that I want to do it. However, I got busy in between and couldn’t make him wait much longer. He told me that Arun Vijay has been signed as the lead. I was telling myself, ‘Poche Poche’. Trust me, I love Thadam more than Kalaga Thalaivan. However, Kalaga Thalaivan too has shaped up as a beautiful film. I play the role of Thiru and you would see a drastic transformation that my character undergoes in the film,” he opens up.

His recent releases Nenjuku Needhi was based on a social cause. Udhay says Kalaga Thalaivan, and Mamannan too will be on those lines. Ask him if he consciously chooses such scripts after entering the political arena, he says, “Yes. I have done several comedy films before. I think that phase of mine is over. I have been wanting to do such stories as I am in the last leg of my acting career. After Mamannan, I am doing a film for Kamal sir’s Raaj Kamal Films for which the director will be finalised soon. That will be my last. I have to focus on other things and I am finding it difficult to allocate 60-90 days for a film. Moreover, the film Veetla Visheshanga came to me first and I turned it down because I didn’t want to be a part of a comedy film.”

Magizh adds to Udhay’s statement and says, “I can understand what he says because when he comes to the sets, he is totally in that mindset. He keeps his other responsibilities aside. Udhay is a playful person with a serious mindset. I believed Kalaga Thalaivan would be apt for him. I enjoyed him in Nimir too.”

Udhay says he is sure of ending his acting careeer as we ask him the question again. “Naan dhan Tamil cinemavaye kaapthitu irukara madhiri (As if Tamil cinema is dependent on me totally),” he laughs. However, his production company Red Giant Movies has distributed Tamil cinema’s most successful films in the recent past. “There is a huge team working behind it. They identify potential content. No one can stop good films and I have taken the flak for releasing bad films too. Sometimes you can’t say ‘no’ to your friends. I am happy if a movie does well,” he tells us.

There have been a lot of talk about revenue transparency in Tamil cinema and collections have been openly put out when Udhay actively started distributing films. Will there be a ticketing server that will be controlled by the state government? “It has gotten better but there needs to be more transparency. A simple solution is that when the government has a tie up with private ticketing website, it gets easier. Producers have raised this with us and we are working on it,” he concludes.