Meera: To the rescue

The screenplay and dialogue are written by none less than the chief minister himself, but Tamil stars — on the rise and on the wane — are just not willin’.

Virtually every top Tamil actor, save Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan who have not been tapped, has turned down M. Karunanidhi’s latest film Nee Indri Naanillai (I do not exist without you), citing a clash in dates.

Nor has anyone been enthused by the DMK chief’s assurance that films with Tamil names will remain exempt from entertainment tax, despite the measure entailing a loss of revenue for local bodies.

The film will, therefore, have Telugu actor Uday Kiran playing the lead opposite Malayali actress Meera Jasmine.

“Every Tamil hero declares that he wants to mouth Karunanidhi’s dialogues in a movie, but they slink away when it comes to the crunch,” rued Thiagu, an actor and a DMK member.

Karunanidhi’s last movie Uliyin Osai (Sound of the Chisel), too, starred Malayali actor Vineeth. But that could be justified on the ground that the role required a Bharatanatyam dancer, which Vineeth is.

But the hero of the present film, based on a 1957 novel by Karunanidhi, is a forest officer who falls in love with a local woman. The role does not require any special skills, but there have been no takers for it.

Even Kannamma, scripted by Karunanidhi in 2004, had TV actor Prem starring opposite Meena, who played the widow of a Kargil hero.

Nee Indri Naanillai director Ilavenil has blamed the Tamil actors’ refusal on the fear psychosis that they would be “branded and harassed” if ADMK boss Jayalalithaa returned to power.

“Let me be blunt. We approached every hero except Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan, but everyone apprehends that he will be branded a DMK actor and harassed if ever Jayalalithaa returns to power. Some said so in as many words,” Ilavenil told The Telegraph.

“Since both Uday Kiran and Meera Jasmine have acted in Tamil movies and speak their own lines without the need for dubbing, they cannot be called imports. Also, we have a meaty role for Tamil comedian Vivek,” he said.

Kiran added: “I speak Tamil well but will put the extra effort to speak the tough Tamil dialogues that I expect in this movie.”

Film industry sources said the real reason for the stars’ reluctance was that Karunanidhi’s films were generally not commercial successes and they did not want to be identified with box-office duds.

“The truth is the last three films scripted by the chief minister flopped badly since they were completely out of sync with present-day trends,” a star’s manager said.

DMK insiders let on that ministers and district secretaries picked up distribution rights of the films and had them screened for two months even if the theatres went empty.

In the case of Uliyin Osai, district secretaries instructed officials to sell tickets among the cadres, who purchased them in bulk and gave them away for free in their areas.

“We looked at it as an extension of party work,” joked a functionary in Chennai.

Karunanidhi first tried his hand at scripts way back in 1952 with Parasakthi, which turned out to be a memorable debut for Sivaji Ganesan too. Since then, he has scripted over 35 films, including three during his present term as chief minister.