VIJAY IN DEMAND

After Shankar, Mani and Murugadoss, it’s Gautham’s turn to sign on the Ilayathalapathy

The Ilayathalapathy seems to be the hottest actor in Kollywood at the moment, with every director worth his salt wanting to work with him. The latest filmmaker to join the list is Gautham Menon, who is reportedly touted to work on a project with him once he’s done with his current assignments. 


“Yes, the Gautham-Vijay project is likely to happen after they finish their ongoing projects,” says a source, “If it does, then it’s a casting coup of sorts in Kollywood and is an indication that Vijay has indeed broken away from his routine mass masala type of flicks that failed at the BO last year.” Sample this: the actor, whose Raja-directed Velayudham is yet to hit the screens, is currently working with Shankar on the Tamil remake of 3 idiots and is then said to be starting work on a project with A R Murugadoss. 


And then there’s Mani Ratnam hovering as well! It’s a well-known fact that Vijay was supposed to work with the ace filmmaker in his Ponniyin Selvan, which got shelved. We understand that the actor had verbally agreed to do a film with Mani in the near future. 


Apart from this, there’s the Seeman-directed tentatively-titled Pagalavan about which there has been no news for a while.
The Ilayathapathy seems to have understood the importance of working with established directors in the industry. While his previous flicks that didn’t do well at the box office (Vettaikaran, Sura for instance) were with relatively new directors, all the films that are on the horizon currently are with some of the biggest filmmakers in the industry. 


When CT contacted Gautham Menon, who is currently busy with two films, about the Vijay film, he said, “I cannot reveal anything right now.”


MOST WANTED THE BIG LEAGUE 

• MANI RATNAM 

• SHANKAR 

• GAUTHAM MENON 

• A R MURUGADOSS 

• SEEMAN 


CURRENT PROJECTS 

• VELAYUDHAM 

• NANBAN