The truth about Satyam:



Satyam promises to be the next big action flick Kollywood has to offer. Addressing mediapersons a year after they began making Sathyam, director Rajasekar and actor Vishal on Monday said that they had spared no effort in making the film, which they plan to release on August 14.

"When we started this project, I submitted Rs 3.80 crore as budget for this film. However, around 24 crores have been spent on this project so far and at no point in time have we spent anything more than what was necessary,” said director Rajasekar.

He also pointed out that they had spent a whopping Rs 1.75 crore on a single song, that had been penned by Pa Vijay in the film.

“The hero and the heroine prepared themselves for five months for this song, which is certain to appeal to kids. Harris has done a wonderful job and this happens to be his 25th film,” he said.

Elaborating that the post-production work was on, he said, “As Satyam is a bilingual where the hero plays the role of a cop, a lot of effort went into changing costumes. That’s because the uniform of the Tamil Nadu cops is different from that of their counterparts in AP. So, Vishal had to change costumes even for the same scene.”

Making use of the occasion to put to rest rumours about his love life, Vishal said, “When I fall in love, I’ll tell you. You guys will be the first to know.”

The star, while responding to a question on a hot song in the film, said, “We didn’t do it deliberately.

The story required such a song and that is why it has been included in the film. When you watch the movie, you’ll know.”

The actor also made it clear that the heroine of the film, Nayanthara, had been informed well in advance about the song. “ It was because of her co-operation that the chemistry shows,” he said.

On the much-talked about six-pack the actor sports in the film, he said,“ I appear bare-chested for around one-and-a-half minutes in the song. I had to work for almost six months to build the six-pack .”

Vishal, who informed that Satyam was his seventh movie, said, “The effort that I’ve put in this film will be equal to the sum total effort I put in for all my other six films.”

“A lot of effort went into making the car chase and the Chellame Chellame... song,” he said, adding that the movie would be titled Salute in Telugu.

Satyam: Trouble Brewing:

Satyam, which is gearing up for Independence Day, is said to have met with an unexpected trouble between the hero and the music director.

Since Vishal's Satyam was Harris Jayaraj's silver Jubilee album, it was expected to have chartbusters but the songs have come out to be anything but chartbusters, according to the trade reports. Even the steamy song Chellame Chellame that shows Vishal and Nayanthara in their hottest best has turned out to be an ordinary fare.

Satyam songs are struggling to get the attention of the movie buffs and they definitely pale in comparison with Yuvan Shankar Raja's Kodana Kodi (Saroja) and AR Rahman's Taxi Taxi (Sakkarakati). It is surprising to note that for the first time Harris album has not created any waves in the market.

Vishal, who is upset by the result of the music, is believed to have spoken to the music director, who is said to have been uncomfortable with Vishal's approach. As fallout of this rift, it is rumoured that Harris has decided no to do the re-recording for the film. He demanded more number of days, which was not acceptable to Vishal who wants to release the film on August 14.

The latest buzz is that Mani Sharma will do the background score for the film.

Satyam Controversy : The Real Picture:

'Satyam', the Vishal-Nayantara starrer, is caught up in a controversy while it is gearing up for August 15th release. There is a buzz in the industry that all is not well between the hero and the music director.

It was rumoured that Vishal was not impressed with the songs and he had reportedly conveyed his opinion in plain terms to Harris. As a result, says the grapevine, Harris is now out of the project and Mani Sharma has been entrusted with the job of scoring the background music and re-recording.

However, Vishal has brushed aside such news as baseless rumours. Vishal in an interview to a leading daily denied the talk of rift between him and Harris and said Mani has been roped in mainly to finish the work within the time frame. He also said that the audio CDs of both the Tamil and Telugu ('Salute') have been selling briskly, contrary to rumours that the sales have been less then encouraging.

Dismissing talks of 'misunderstanding' with Harris, Vishal said that at present, Harris could be spotted at the live e-recording going on at the Kothandapani Studios in Chennai, where 80 other musicians are at work along with him. He said the background score would be something to look for and could be a crowd-puller.

'Satyam' is music director Harris Jeyaraj's 25th film and will be Vishal's first direct venture as far as Tollywood is concerned (Sathyam is a bi-lingual project).

Ironically, the pre-release hype for the movie is not on the mega budget (18 crores) or Vishal's act as a cop for the first time. The focus is now on the Chellamey song in which Vishal and Nayantara have been upping the temperature.

Satyam, which is making news from the day one, is all set for a grand release on 14th August with more than 700 prints. It will have more than 70 prints in Kerala alone.