The late SP Balasubrahmanyam is known for not only his range and variety as a singer but also for his humorous, jovial, and down-to-earth personality. It is said that people with a funny bone are highly appreciative of humor coming from others. Perhaps this explains why the legendary singer liked Venkat Prabhu's narration of his 2007 film, Chennai 600028.
In a recent interview with Mojo TV, the iconic singer's son, actor and singer, SP Charan, recalled the time when Venkat Prabhu narrated the film's story to his father. "During the shoot of our film, Unnai Saranadainthaen, Venkat told me about his cricket-based comedy's idea, seeking a director for it, and I told him to narrate it to my father. Venkat then told the story to my father, and he was rolling on the floor laughing while listening to it. He just loved the whole script," SP Charan said.
The playback singer cum actor also revealed that Venkat Prabhu used all the expletives as they are in the script while narrating the story to SP Balasubrahmanyam.
He said that the filmmaker even apologised to the popular singer during the narration, because of the number of swear words in the screenplay. "Actually, my father enjoyed it. He understood that that is how the culture of those boys would be like and that is how they would speak in day-to-day life," SP Charan said, referring to the characters in Chennai 600028.
"He was the one who gave us the green signal, urging us to do the film," Charan said about his legendary father. While Charan produced the film alongside JK Saravana, the film also used SP Balasubrahmanyam as a narrator.
It has been 19 years since the release of the film, which marked the directorial debut of Venkat Prabhu. It has a 2016 sequel, Chennai 600028 II, which also Venkat Prabhu directed and Charan produced.
Venkat Prabhu has not had a release since 2024's The Greatest of All Time, starring Vijay in his penultimate film before retirement.
