Though I am under a bit of pressure (not because of the growing expectations for the movie but because of my tight schedule and lack of time to write detailed screen-play), I thought I better release at least the Reel-1 (of total 4 Reels) of MaruthaMalai story today, before things go out-of-hand as so many people have already started saying so many bad things about me!!!! (Some are teasing, some are threatening and some are provoking!!). I have so much confidence in my story and the movie that it will be a blockbuster and it will satisfy all sections of the audience, but my only issue is lack-of-time to work on the screen-play which I will try to overcome by working some over-time. Still I welcome more tips and ideas from all of you to add more spice, twist and turn to the movie to make the screen-play even better.
Official Preview:
MaruthMalai is not about a place as mentioned in the preview-interview, its all about a person (our main Hero) and about his hard-and-soft-experiences in Life. MaruthaMalai is the name of our Hero#1 (Mohan). Though I tried to use the standard Masala-Formula of Tamil movies (with a mixture of Romance, Music, Action, Fun, Thrill and a bit of Horror too) thats essential for the commercial success and acceptance of the movie by all sections, this movie still has a strong message & theme which will stay etched in the minds of the audience for the rest of their life!! Thats the power of this movie. And, that powerful theme is The need for Ethics in doing Business!!!! This may sound unusual for a Tamil movie, but thats what makes this movie really special!! With this preview, lets get down to the story. Here is the Reel-1 story of MaruthaMalai.
Storyline Summary of MaruthaMalai …The Innocent Lover & Killer:
Our Hero#1, MaruthaMalai (played by Mohan) is an innocent?! Flower Vendor in a small village at the foothills of Maruthamalai. Our Hero MaruthaMalai (MM in short) is very famous and well-known (especially amongst the village girls and the old people) in the village for his business ethics as a flower vendor and for his honesty. He always moves in a simple bicycle (but with Nike shoes!!) selling flowers (mainly Jasmine!!) to all the village girls (he often gives free flowers to the poor and the needy and also to the beautiful!!). Simplicity, Innocence, Honesty and Generosity are the hall marks of our Hero MaruthaMalai (He sells flowers as a service to the woman-kind and to help people, rather than to make money, and because of this he often gives more for the less). Our Hero is also a very good singer (the name Mohan says it all, right) and he always sings nice songs while selling his flowers. He lives in a small hut with his poor mother and a younger sister. As a part time hobby, he teaches Carnatic music to many village girls (as a free service to the Goddess Saraswathi) in an Ashramam-Garden in the same village. This Huge Ashramam, the gardens and the old bungalow which is an annex to the Ashramam are all owned by a Swamiji/Guruji (played by Srini) who is always on meditation during the day time in the Ashramam. This Guruji is aided by another junior Swamiji called Maha-muni (played by Maamuni). Both these Sadhus stay in the annex-bungalow in the night. While a lot of people (especially innocent ladies, including the Heros sister!!) visit the Ashramam everyday during the day time for getting the blessings from these two Sadhus, theres a lot of rumor that the annex-bungalow is haunted by ghosts and a lot of shady things happen in this bungalow in the night time. Because of all the ghost stories, nobody in the village has the guts to enter this bungalow and check whats happening inside. Apart from the two Swamijis, theres only one more person (a kutti-swami) who stays in this bungalow and takes care of all the needs inside this Bungalow for both the Swamijis. This kutti-swami role is played by none other than Sanjeev!! (Sanjeev gets his usual costume in this movie too, a kaavi towel which he uses as lungi and a kaavi banian)!!! Since our Hero is such an innocent guy, he never bothers to find out what happens inside the Ashramam/Bungalow, and he only visits the Ashram everyday to conduct the carnatic music classes to his young and old students.
Adjacent to this Ashramam is a small Idly Kadai, and thats where our Hero eats his morning breakfast (masala-dosai) everyday. This Idly kadai owner (need to find a suitable guy for his role!!) has a twin daughters, Mallika and Malavika who look the same (This dual role is played by our Heroine, who is yet to be identified and confirmed). Not many people in the village (including our Hero, obviously) know that the idly kadai owner has two daughters who look the same. This is because, the elder daughter Mallika (elder by few minutes) has just returned from America after finishing here MBA in Howard Business School , and many people in the village dont know about her. The younger daughter Malavika is the only one who grows up with her father in the village in the idly kadai, helping her father to prepare and serve idlies and dosas. The character, dressing and the belief of both these girls are in total contrast to their background and how they were brought-up. Mallika (who is the American-educated) dresses up in the village style in half-saree (paavadai/thavani) and believes in all Indian traditions and culture while her younger sister Malavika who grew-up in the village dresses in modern outfits (like jeans and T-shirts, etc) and is crazy about the western culture. Most of the villagers (including the Hero) dont know that these are two girls who look the same, and they think its the same girl who dresses herself in different outfits!!
Mallika, who is so fond of wearing a lot of jasmine on her hair, is also a Music Lover. She joins the Carnatic Music classes conducted by MM, and falls in Love with the Hero listening to his voice and after knowing about his qualities and his love for flowers!! MM also starts loving her for her love for flowers and her traditional dresses and for her simple background (little does he realizes that she is a MBA from Howard). We slot in a super duet song at this place, which will be shot in Europe . Bala will write the lyrics for this song. This song (a semi-classical number) should talk about all the flowers and Music and how the Flowers and Music unites both the Hero and Heroine, etc. After shooting, I want this song to look like the first duet song Kumari.. in Anniyan thats shot in the Tulip gardens!!! These are just ideas for you guys to visualize. Dont think that I am copying these ideas from other movies!!!
The Love-bond between MM and Mallika is growing stronger everyday. Meanwhile, Mallika wants to use her MBA knowledge and get the Idly Kadai Dosai popular allover the world. Her MBA Project Work was to develop a special recipe for IKD (Idly Kadai Dosai) and market it all over India and abroad, very similar to the KFC story, and make her father a Leader in the Food Industry (just like the KFC Thatha). She silently executes this idea and the Idly Kadai owner becomes a Millionaire (within a song). This business-revolution and the success-story becomes the talk of Corporate India, and soon all the Business Magazines carry Mallika on their covers and there are a lot of articles and TV news about her success, and she is conferred the title of India s Dosa Queen!!!.
This is the time for the entry of the Villain. Kovai-Gajini, shortly KG (he is our Villain #1, and this role is played by Ashok), who is a Textile Tycoon in Coimbatore is always looking for new business opportunities and diversifications. As the name suggests, he suffers from a medical disorder called short-term-memory-loss and he often mixes-up with people and their names!! He is a kind of character (in the movie!!) who will do anything to grow his business (and thats why he is the villain). He learns about Mallika who lives near Maruthmalai, and plans to marry her so that he can take over the entire IKD Food Chain and the entire Food business after marrying Mallika. He decides to approach the Idly Kadai owner to discuss this proposal.
Now, its time to introduce another character, Ambur-Dada (AD), and this role is played by Ambur himself. Amburs character in the movie is like Nayagan Kamal character (Dada/Godfather who keeps saying naalu ponnugalukku nallathu pannanumnaa ethuvumae thappillai!!, so he is that kind of Nallavana? Illai Kettavana? Theriyalaeyae Type). AD is running a small business in North Madras (of lending motor-boats and Kattumaram to Fishermen and whole-sale dealing of Fish and Seafood). AD also has been dreaming to develop his business with more sophistication and to move into the lucrative export market. This is when he reads and hears about Mallika, and thinks her ideas and MBA concepts would help him to get there!! Basically he thinks, if I can help four people today, I can help 40 people tomorrow and 400 the day after if I can grow that fast. He also thinks that with his personality and looks, he can get Mallika to fall for him and he can use her to develop his business world. Ambur also heads towards MaruthaMalai to meet Mallika!!
This is end of Reel-1. Lets wait and watch what happens in Reels 2, 3 and 4. Of course, you guys might have a lot of questions like these:
Where's Gautham?
Is MarthuMalai just an innocent Flower Vendor? Whats his past? (What was he in the flash-back that will be shown in the Reel-3?)
Who gets to marry Mallika?
What happens to Malavika?
Whats really happening in the Ashramam-Bungalow?
How cruel is KG and how does his STML affect him in his dream of conquering the Dosa-Queen Mallika? (STML means short-term-memory-loss)
How do we bring in the message Business Ethics into this Masala movie?
Wait for all the answers in the next reels!!!!
Opening Scene and The Opening Song:
We dont open the movie with the usual titles. In order to capture the essence and theme of the movie in the opening scene itself, we open the first scene with a very-high tech graphics of a Golden-Vel draped in a string of jasmine flower, with blood dripping from the tip!! We show this with an attractive background-music and with Maruthamalai, the hill in the background. The idea is to capture the essence (the romance and the action) in the first scene itself with this logo!! We then open the movie by showing a green and serene village at the foothills of Maruthamalai in an early wet-morning (dawn) with the beautiful sounds of birds and sights of blossoming flowers. As the Sun rises, the camera zooms into the village. Its the day before the local Pongal festival in the village, and on this day, typically all the ladies and girls in the village look for MaruthaMalai to buy flowers for the festival next day. All the girls (dance group?!) gang-up and start looking for MaruthaMalai, and we hear this loud shouts of MaruthaMalai Engae, MaruthaMalai Engae? echoing all over the foothills of Maruthamalai.
The camera zooms on our Hero MaruthaMalai (in his special costume of white cotton shirt and blue jeans, and a string of jasmine tied in his waist) who greets the audience with his innocent smile, standing on top of a Hugh Rock. He then makes a somersault and jumps in the middle of an empty field where theres a group of dancers waiting for the opening song and dance. The opening song starts with the traditional folk music (Kuthu-Music?!) of Pancha-Vathiyam!!
(Please use the Tune of the famous opening song Vandaen-da Paalkaaraen from Rajinikanths AnnaMalai for our opening song also for the time being, until we come out with our own tune for the song. We are yet to sign-up a Music Director). Here we go, please replace the lyrics of Vandaenda Paalkaaran with the following and start singing with our MaruthaMalai
Vandhaen-da Pookkaren,
Poo-chediya Pathi Paada Poraen.
Oru Paattu Katti Aadapporaen..
Thanni Kodutha Poovu Kodukkum
Unnale Mudiyaathu Thambi
Paadhi Pullae Porakkuthappa
Poovaithan Ponnaha Nambi
Vandhaen-da Pookkaren,
Poo-chediya Pathi Paada Poraen.
Oru Paattu Katti Aadapporaen..
Verum Thaneerai Uyiraaki
Poo, Kaniyaha Koduppadhu
Marathoda Velaiappa..
Adhu Koduthaalum
Maramellam Thee Vaithu Azhippathu
Manithanin Moolaiappa..
Poovu Mudhirnthaal Pazham Paru
Pazhathai Vedhaicha Maram Paru….
Unakku enna Gunam Paru
Unmai Sonnaa Thaharaaru..
Nee Marathai Pola Vaazhaleyae……
Manusanai Midhichi Pozhaikkiriyae!!...
Vandhaen-da Pookkaren,
Poo-chediya Pathi Paada Poraen.
Oru Paattu Katti Aadapporaen..
Maadu, irundhaalum Paalaahum
Sethaalum Tholaahum
VairaMuthu Sonnathunga
Maram Irundhaalum Pazhamaahum
Sethaalum Thoonaahum
MaruthaMalai Solvathunga.
Mattha Kadaiyil Kidaippathellaam
Vaadi Pona Vanna Poovunga..
MaruthaMalai Naan Koduppadhellaam…
Kaadhal Valarkum Malli Poovunga..
Annai Vaari Mudivadhu Alli Poovunga
Ennai Vaazha Veipathu Malli Poovunga…
Hey!
Vandhaen-da Pookkaren,
Poo-chediya Pathi Paada Poraen.
Oru Paattu Katti Aadapporaen..
Thana Nana Nana Nana….
Thana Nana Nana Nana…
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Thanks for reading all this Seriously Silly stuff patiently. Do send in your ideas, comments and suggestions for improvement (self too)!