CHENNAI: The makers of director Mohan G Kshatriyan's eagerly awaited historical film 'Draupathi 2' have now announced that they had identified an alternative singer to sing the song 'Emkoney', which was originally sung by singer Chinmayi, and have clarified that the version sung by Chinmayi will not feature in the film when screened in theatres.
Talking to mediapersons, director Mohan G Kshatriyan and producer Chola Shakkaravarthi said that they had chosen an alternative voice for the song. "The song will appear in this other person's voice in the film," producer Chola Shakkaravarthi said.
It may be recalled that singer Chinmayi had, after singing the song, tendered an apology on social media for having sung the number. She had said, "At the outset, my heartfelt apologies for 'Emkoney'. Ghibran is a composer I have known for 18 years since my jingle singing days. When his office called for this song, I just went and sang as I usually do. If I remember right, Ghibran wasn't present during this session - I was given an idea on how to sound tonally for the song; I finished the recording and I left. It is only now that I have got to learn about the context. If I had known beforehand, I would never have collaborated because the ideologies are at complete contradiction to mine. This is the absolute truth."
Director Mohan G Kshatriyan said, "I had given time until last week in the hope that she would react. I have lodged a complaint with the director's union and the producer has lodged a complaint with the producers' council. We have complained that without any cause, she has defamed our film in public. We have both lodged complaints. The complaints have gone to FEFSI. The process takes time. We have chosen an alternate voice for her."
The film has triggered huge expectation among fans and film buffs.
Mohan G Kshatriyan said that the inspiration for the screenplay for the historical film came from a small book called Moondram Vallalla Maharaja by a historian called Annal Kandar.
"The prime historical events shown in the film are all based on facts. However, we have used cinematic liberties while developing characters. It took me almost a year to complete the script as I had to meet a lot of people to learn about this subject. The third Veera Vallalalar ruled with Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu as his capital," he explained.
It may be recalled that the makers of the film had only recently released the poster of actor Chirag Jani as Mohammad Bin Tughlaq in the film, much to the delight of fans and film buffs.
Taking to his X timeline to share the poster of Chirag Jani as Mohammad Bin Tughlaq, director Mohan G Kshatriyan had said, "Terror Wears A Crown. Unveiling the Delhi Sultanate #MohdBinThugluq...@JaniChiragjani nailed it. Roaring as First-Level Antagonist."
Mounted as a grand multilingual period film rooted in 14th-century South India, the film, which recently completed post-production, has already been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for release with a 'U/A' certificate.
Sources close to the unit of the film say that the film will have three powerful villains, with Chirag Jani positioned as the first-level antagonist.
'Draupathi 2' features Richard Rishi in the lead, with Rakshana Indusudan as the female lead and Natti Natraj in a pivotal role. The ensemble cast includes Y G Mahendran, Nadodigal Barani, Saravana Subbiah, Vel Ramamoorthy, Siraj Johnny, Dinesh Lamba, Ganesh Gaurang, Divi, Devayani Sharma, and Arunodayan.
The film has been produced by Chola Shakkaravarthi (Netaji Productions) in association with G.M. Film Corporation, with cinematography by Philip R. Sundar, music by Ghibran Vaibodha, action choreography by Action Santosh, choreography by Thanika Tony, editing by Devaraj, and production design by Kamalnathan. Dialogues for the film have been penned by Padma Chandrasekhar and Mohan G.