Mani Ratnam and his Madras Talkies along with Gemini Film Circuit held a breezy "Introduction to Kadal" team in Chennai yesterday (Jan 15) morning at Rani Seethai Hall.
It was basically the first ever press meet for the film slated for release on February 1.

Suhasini Mani Ratnam introduced 'Action King' Arjun a part of the Kadal team to anchor the show. There was a lot of bonhomie as Arjun ragged Aravind Swamy about his long absence from movies. Aravind now 40 plus, still looks charming and debonair, as he was introduced in Dalapathy nearly 22 years back.

Another Mani Ratnam favourite of the 1980's, Karthik was asked by Arjun to introduce his son Gautham Karthik. The father-son bonding and the way they behaved more like friends, had the crowd rooting for the young man.

Young Thulasi looking gorgeous in a white dress was the cynosure of all eyes. However her mother Radha was held up in Mumbai and could not make it for the function. So Mani Ratnam himself introduced his heroine who was all in awe of her guru.

Vairamuthu who has written three of the five songs in the film made a long speech about his association with Mani and ARR. His son Madhan Karky who has written two songs for the film said he grew up on Mani –ARR music from the Roja days and also his father was a great source of inspiration.

However the icing on the cake was the way AR Rahman was introduced. It was a silent entry but the way he mesmerised the audiences was seen to be believed. When Arjun asked him to render three of his favourite tunes he composed for Mani, within minutes he came up with the numbers. It was a magical few minutes on the piano and a beautiful rendition of Adiye…

Finally it was an emotional moment when Mani Ratnam thanked Rahman for all the good tunes he had gifted him in the last 20 years. You could feel the emotional bond that the composer shares with his mentor and director when he said – "Mani sir is my guru."

"Meet the Kadal team" was one of the best shows in recent time which was an insight into the film as well as entertaining. The function was well conceptualised racy and was wrapped up in 55 minutes.