Coming Soon - Paramasivan

Paramasivan is one of the two biggies hitting the screens on Pongal. With the launch being attended by Rajnikanth, the movie had a well-publicized start and for a change, considering the state of other Ajith-starrers, it has been smooth sailing so far.

It’s pretty amazing that an Ajith starrer can still create this much hype. The actor’s career, which I described as resembling a sine wave, is at another low right now. His lone 2005 release Ji bombed badly, Attagaasam and Villan have been his only two average grossers recently and I can’t even remember the last time he delivered a bonafide superhit (Vaali?). But he continues to be spoken about in the same breath as Vijay, who is probably at the zenith of his career, with a string of superhits. That tells us a lot about the size and loyalty of Ajith's fan base.

The biggest reason for the expectations surrounding Paramasivan is ofcourse Ajith, who almost seems to have reinvented himself. The actor, who looked quite flabby in his last few films, has shed a lot of weight and looks thin(though I thought he looked unnaturally thin in some of the pictures) and trim. News reports also said that he was putting aside his interest in racing and concentrating solely on his acting. Both of these suggest that he is serious about steadying his career and Paramasivan is going to serve as first proof of that.

Joining Ajith is Laila, his heroine in Dheena, one of his few hits in the last few years. The actress had a good 2005 with both her films, Ullam Ketkume and Kanda Naal Mudhal, turning out to be big hits (2006 too has started well on a personal level since she is getting married soon). Ajith and Laila showed good chemistry in the very cute romance in Dheena and if they manage to recreate even half that chemistry, it bodes well for Paramasivan’s success. Jayaram and Prakashraj are also part of the cast.

Behind the camera for Paramasivan is P.Vasu, whose floundering career seems to have been brought back to life with the success of Chandramukhi. I’ve never had much admiration for him even at the time he was delivering one superhit after another and I've felt his films have always been overly sentimental and melodramatic. But that side of him seemed to have been reined in for Chandramukhi and I’m hoping he continues the same in Paramasivan, which is supposed to be an action flick. Vidyasagar has scored the music. It seems to be an average soundtrack though the fast Undivil Kannil... has the chance to become popular.

Paramasivan is definitely an important film for all concerned and its box-office fate will be followed keenly.