The much-awaited audio launch of Thalapathy Vijay's upcoming action-comedy Beast, directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, could not take place due to the COVID situation. However, fans were taken by surprise when the promo of Vijay’s interview, titled “VIJAYudan Nerukku Ner” (Face to Face with Vijay), was posted on Sun TV’s YouTube channel.
There is a reason why this interview promo is the biggest buzz in Kollywood right now. No points for guessing that this is Vijay’s first interview after 10 years on television.
There is something about the top tier Tamil stars’ "elusiveness" and the air of mystery around their "stardom". In fact, the former seems to be directly proportional to the latter.
Take for instance actor Ajith. He is never seen in his own film’s promotional activities. Similarly, actors such as Rajinikanth, Dhanush, Nayanthara have limited to no social media presence, and they rarely participate in any of their film’s promotions. However, the craze around the actors across the globe, especially Tamil Nadu, is unfathomable.
Being elusive by making themselves unreachable to an extent has, in a way, created a mystery around these stars. It also helps them keep their fans hungry for their offscreen presence. Hence, when they do give speeches, it goes viral in seconds.
On one hand there are actors like Surya and Vikram, who try to stick to the current trends by giving interviews and taking part in audio launches. They are also pretty active on social media. On the other hand there's Vijay, who stands out when it comes to marketing his films.
For example, though he wasn't seen in any of the film-related interviews in the last decade, Vijay curates personalised audio launches with his speeches that include "Kutti stories" (motivational tales) that fans love listening to.
Actor Vijay's speeches in his films' audio launches
Photo courtesy : Twitter; Altered by The Quint
For Beast, Vijay was also part of the promo of 'Arabic Kuthu'. And now comes the highly-anticipated interview. Vijay seems to strike the perfect balance when it comes to marrying the strategy from yesteryears (i.e. the elusiveness related to stardom) with today's trends (quirky digital promos). He has yet again proven that he is one step ahead of his contemporaries in Kollywood.
Thalapathy Vijay’s interview for the hostage thriller is all set to air on 10 April at 9 pm. Dilipkumar will be hosting the interview himself, and in the promo he can be seen pulling Vijay's legs.
Bankrolled by Kalanidhi Maran of Sun Pictures, Beast also features Selvaraghavan, Pooja Hegde, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley, Aparna Das, Shine Tom Chacko, VTV Ganesh and Lilliput Faruqui in prominent roles. The film is set to release on 13 April and is expected to clash with Yash's KGF: Chapter 2 at the box office.
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