Seethakathi team felicitates theatrical artistes

Vijay Sethupathi's 25th film, Seethakathi is set to hit the screens on December 20, and ahead of the film's release, the cast and crew met the press yesterday. At the event, they honoured thirteen stage actors who were a part of the film. Vijay Sethupathi played host for this segment and warmly introduced each of them, the first of whom was 87 years old and the inspiration for the actor's character, Ayya Aadhimoolam. He made the veteran artiste speak a famous Saguni dialogue from the Mahabharata, which prompted applause even from the gathered press personnel.

Govind Vasantha, the film's music director, took to the stage next and said, "Seethakathi is a life experience. It talks about life and art in a non-preachy way. I think this is my best work till date. I thank Balaji Tharaneetharan, who is my director, mentor, and godfather, for giving me this opportunity."

Balaji Tharaneetharan, the film's director, said, "I want to thank three sets of people chiefly. First would be the brilliant set of actors ranging from Vijay and Mouli to the theatre artistes. Second would be the sync sound team. For me, the most boring and irritating part of making films has always been dubbing. You tend to get better delivery on the spot and so we shot in live sound. And finally, I want to thank the publicity designer, Gopi Prasanna, whose first look of Vijay Sethupathi in black and white ensured all the goodwill and hype we have received till now." He also reserved special praise for his cinematographer Saraskanth, who he labelled as 'proactive', and editor Govindraj, whom he said is a 'great storyteller'.

Vijay Sethupathi closed out the session by recalling how he genuinely did not expect this. "I had no expectations for this, even though it is my 25th film. This film is not only telling a new story in a new way, but one can also think of it (at a meta-level) as to how best to tell a story. For this to be my 25th film, I have no words to express all the emotions I feel right now. I just thank everyone for all their support till now." The actor also wished all other films which are releasing alongside Seethakathi the best.