Jai to headline Thiyagaraja Talkies' first production

Jai will lead the first film from Thiyagaraja Talkies, a new production house started by Thyaga Kurinjiselvan and his wife, Dr R. Vijayalakshmi. Siva Prasanna, Kurinjiselvan’s nephew, directs. The banner is named after Kurinjiselvan’s father, Thiyagarajan, and its launch drew a stage full of friends from cinema and beyond: Sundar C, Mysskin, Venkat Prabhu, Soori, Ishari K. Ganesh, Ilavarasu, Mohan, Chithra Lakshmanan, T. Siva, singers Malathi and Krish, and former MLA Nandakumar.

Jai explained the nickname most of them seem to use. “When I hear Kurinjiselvan, I think of Japan. I’ve got so used to calling him Japan Kurinji.” He said the team was working hard to make a film every audience would enjoy, and pointed out that a hit would let the producer give chances to many more directors.

Mysskin told the story behind that nickname. He met Kurinjiselvan in Japan some 15 to 20 years ago, while nursing a leg injury after an accident, and Kurinjiselvan looked after him and eased the pain. “To this day, if I need money, before I check my pocket or my bank account, I check whether he has it.” Whenever Mysskin visits Japan, he said, Kurinjiselvan spends the whole day with him, from eight in the morning to eight at night. The two share a deep love for Ilaiyaraaja, and Kurinjiselvan’s habit of singing the maestro’s songs, sometimes to his friends’ amusement, has inspired a character in a story Mysskin is writing now.

Mysskin also revealed that he will be involved with the film himself. It is a simple comedy rather than a large-scale production, he said, and his assistant Eswari is working on it as co-director. He admitted that seeing such a generous man enter production made him both happy and a little anxious. “Cinema is a forest full of challenges. But it is also a great art.”

That anxiety turned into the evening’s running theme: friendly advice about money. Sundar C, who called Kurinjiselvan a brother who turns up first for every happy and sad occasion in his family, said a producer must talk openly about the budget with the director at the very start. “After that you can be friends. It’s fine to start the shoot late, but start with proper planning and finish as planned.” He told the young director that when someone invests in you, keeping their trust is your responsibility.

Venkat Prabhu said finishing a film within its budget is the key to a good relationship between a producer and a director, and that careful pre-production avoids most problems. He said he had given the banner a punch line of its own, and that his team would be ready to make a film with Thiyagaraja Talkies in the future. T. Siva urged the new company to spend only what the story needs, noting how many directors are succeeding with small budgets. If the film works, he said, the whole industry will stand behind it. Ishari K. Ganesh, who named Vels International after his own father, said people who honour their parents rise in life, and gently warned Kurinjiselvan that a man this good needs to make sure nobody takes advantage of him.

Chithra Lakshmanan admitted he had first assumed the name honoured Thiyagaraja of Thiruvarur, given Kurinjiselvan’s devotion to Shiva. He also saw a link to MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Tamil cinema’s first superstar after films began to talk in 1931, and called it a blessing for the banner. Mohan hoped the company would grow the way producer RB Choudary did, building a hundred-film run on strong stories. Soori, who has known Siva Prasanna for 20 years, said Kurinjiselvan wanted others to grow the way parents want their children to, and wished the banner a long run from its first film to its hundredth.

Ilavarasu, who is part of the film’s team, welcomed the guests on the producer’s behalf and told Siva Prasanna that the opportunity was now in his hands. Former MLA Nandakumar said Kurinjiselvan had surprised him with a WhatsApp message announcing the company, and that spending one day with him feels like a hundred years of friendship. Malathi called the launch a family function more than a film event, and Krish kept his wishes short and warm. Producer AM Prabhakaran, who also calls Kurinjiselvan his maternal uncle, noted that the banner was launched on Vallalar’s birth anniversary, a coincidence he found fitting, given his grandfather’s devotion to the saint.

Siva Prasanna kept his own speech brief. He promised his full effort, said he would finish the project as planned, and saved the details for when the film is done. Kurinjiselvan thanked his parents, his mentor Suresh Subramanian, and Vijayalakshmi for keeping the lamp his mentor lit burning. Many of the guests had warned him about the challenges of production, he said, and he would keep that advice close. “Even if we make mistakes, even if the film doesn’t turn out as expected, we know this group of friends will hold our hands and take us forward.” He said he wants to thank each of them personally on the day the film succeeds.

Jai, who led Babu Vijay’s Sattendru Maarudhu Vaanilai in May, now moves to a comedy for a first-time banner, with Mysskin’s assistant Eswari beside its director and a room full of producers offering to help.