That Vallamai Thaaraayo, starring Parthiban and Chaya Singh, is going to be different is evident right away. Directed by a woman – Madhumitha – a filmmaker of short film from the U.S., the film affirms that there is life after divorce for a woman. Its audio release held last evening at the Rani Seethai hall had the grandeur and excitement of a wedding. For onlookers outside and those inside, the hall was decorated tastefully. Skipping conventional ways of releasing an audio (with a CD or a cardboard cutout of a CD) the people behind Vallamai Thaaraayo released it with an iPod. The team members received the first copy. And instead of merely screening the songs, they had playbacks singers (Anuradha Sriram, Baradwaj) and dancers actually sing and dance the tracks live on stage. Legendary singer P.B. Srinivas released the iPod-CD combo. Bharadwaj is the music composer.
Vallamai Thaaraayo is produced by the director’s parents, Nalini Sunderaman and SriSakthi Sunderaman, and they intended the function to also be a time of honoring seasoned artists such as MN Rajam, A.L. Ragahavan, Veneeradai Nirmala, Manjula and Vijaykumar, Ravichandran, Srkanth, Sankar Ganesh, Sathya Priya and Veeraswamy – all of whom came up on stage and received mementos. Also starring in the film are Anandraj, Kuyili, Devi Priya and Karna, all of whom were present.
Director Madumitha said Vallamai Thorai is “a sensitive portrait of a woman, her feelings and her desires. It explores my convictions that life does not need to be accepted as it is.” Like the movie, the songs have a very different feel to them.
