Biriyani (film)

Biriyani
First Look Poster
Directed by	Venkat Prabhu
Written by	Venkat Prabhu
Produced by	K. E. Gnanavel Raja
Starring	Karthi Hansika Motwani Premji Amaren Ramki Mandy Takhar
Cinematography	Sakthi Saravanan
Edited by	Praveen K. L. N. B. Srikanth
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production company	Studio Green
Release date	September 6, 2013 (2013-09-06)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Biriyani is an upcoming Indian Tamil black comedy-thriller film written and directed by Venkat Prabhu. Produced by Studio Green, it will feature Karthi and Hansika Motwani in the lead roles alongside Premji Amaren, Ramki, Nithin Sathya, Madhumitha and Mandy Takhar. Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the score and soundtrack of Biriyani, which marks his 100th film, while Sakthi Saravanan and Praveen-Srikanth handled cinematography and editing, respectively. Filming started in November 2012, lasted for over nine months and took place primarily at Chennai, Hyderabad and Ambur. The film is scheduled for a theatrical release on September 6, 2013.

Cast

• Karthi
• Hansika Motwani as Priyanka
• Premji Amaren
• Ramki
• Nithin Sathya
• Madhumitha
• Mandy Takhar
• Subbu Panchu
• Uma Riyaz Khan
• Sangeetha Gopal
• Sampath Raj
• Prem
• Badava Gopi
• Sam Anderson

Special appearances by

• Aravind Akash
• Ashwin Kakumanu
• Mahat Raghavendra
• Vaibhav Reddy
• Vijay Vasanth
• Review Raja

Production

Following the release of Mankatha, Venkat Prabhu was reported to be writing a script for Suriya. In December 2011, he was signed up by Studio Green, the production company owned by Suriya's cousin K. E. Gnanavelraja, while later the month the director informed that Suriya had agreed to be part of his next film, which he was planning to shoot in 3D. Further more, the media carried reports that it would be a bilingual, made simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu, and feature Telugu actor Ravi Teja, Sonam Kapoor and Taapsee Pannu in other lead roles.

In April 2012, while Venkat Prabhu was still working on the script, giving it the final touch, Suriya chose to work with director Hari on the sequel to his Singam first after completing Maattrraan, which prompted Venkat Prabhu to make another film for Studio Green instead with Suriya's brother Karthi in the lead. The film was named Biriyani, and the director stated that the same team of his previous four films, comprising music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan, editors Praveen K. L. and N. B. Srikanth and costume designer Vasuki Bhaskar, would work on Biriyani. The film was launched on 16 July 2012 after a small pooja, but filming did not start until November 2012, since Venkat Prabhu was reworking his script and the casting was not finished yet. He made it clear that the film planned with Suriya earlier was an "entirely different script", and that he would work on that project later, while revealing that Biriyani's script was initially intended for actor Vijay.

Casting

Venkat Prabhu's brother Premgi Amaren, who had been part of all his brother's ventures, was given an "almost parallel role" as the lead character's best friend in Biriyani. For the lead female role, the production team first approached Samantha. Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra and Ileana D'Cruz were also considered for the role, but in early July 2012, Bengali actress Richa Gangopadhyay was selected for the role, who said that she played "a typical girl in it; someone who's mischievous and not-so innocent". However, she left the project by mid-October 2012 due to "changes in the role and script". After Gangopadhyay's exit, Venkat Prabhu expressed interest in casting Nayantara for the role. while later the month Hansika Motwani was finalized to play the leading lady of the film. Motwani told that she played a journalist named Priyanka, while classifying the film as a "black comedy thriller".

Sources reported that the film had two female leads and that Neetu Chandra had been approached to play the other lead. Venkat Prabhu was also keen on casting Bollywood actress Diana Penty for the role, which finally went to British Indian model and actress in Punjabi films, Mandy Takhar, who said that she played a "strong, modern girl", describing her character as "sexy and sensous", that she said was "not what I am". Takhar, who Venkat Prabhu zeroed in after seeing her photos from her Hindi film Bumboo, added that she had allotted 20 days of shooting for the film, had to put on weight for the role and had done a pole dance in the song "Missisippi". Further more, sources indicated that the newly married couple Sneha and Prasanna had been roped in for the film, although Venkat Prabhu refused to comment about this. Later, in an interview to The Hindu, Prasanna stated that he played an important role in it. Ramki was recruited in November 2012 for an important role. Meena was also approached by the director to play a pivotal role, but she declined the offer. Nithin Sathya and Sampath Raj, two regulars in Venkat Prabhu's films, joined the cast in December 2012. Later additions to the cast included television actor and mimic Badava Gopi, playing the role of a cameraman, Uma Riyaz Khan, Madhumitha, Bangalore socialite Sangeetha Gopal, and Sam Anderson. Reports suggested that Canadian film critic Review Raja had done a dance number choreographed by Shobhi during his visit in Chennai.

Filming

The film's principal photography was to start in August 2012, but was delayed because of changes in the script and the cast. It was then supposed to begin by early October 2012 in Ambur, but was officially commenced on November 5, 2012, following a test shoot on November 1. The first day of shoot involved scenes between Karthi and Premji, which was carried out on a set inside a house near the Kodambakkam railway station in Chennai. The short Chennai schedule was followed by schedules in Senji, Ambur and Pondicherry. A set of a hotel worth ₹ 1 crore was errected in Chennai, where action scenes and songs were shot for the film. Motion capture technology was used to film a fight sequence involving Karthi, Nitin Sathya, Murugadas and Panchu Subbu which was shot with a multiple camera setup at Puducherry. The unit then took a break as Karthi moved on to shoot his other film All in All Azhagu Raja simulataneously, and filming was continued on 30 March 2013 in Hyderabad. 60% of the film had been completed at that time, according to the director.

Vijay Vasanth, Vaibhav Reddy, Ashwin Kakumanu, Aravind Akash and Mahat Raghavendra, who had all been part of Venkat Prabhu’s Mankatha, dropped by Hyderabad for a day to partake in the shooting. Although a 14-day schedule was planned in Hyderabad, the unit returned within three days to Chennai, after facing with opposition from the stunt union of Andhra Pradesh. The crew was allowed to shoot a fight sequence on a train, for which ₹ 40 lakh had been paid in advance, after which they returned to Chennai and resume the shoot there, where new sets had been created at the AVM studios, the Binny Mills and the Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR). Venkat Prabhu further said that the crew would be heading to Spain and Portugal in May to shoot two songs involving Karthi and Hansika. By mid-June, the entire talkie portion had been canned. The final song, choreographed by Kalyan, was shot in July 2013. Although the team had planned to shoot the song in a foreign country, it was eventually filmed in Meenambakkam, Chennai, where two sets had been created, with Venkat Prabhu intending to shoot the song in the style of a Broadway musical, who went on to add that "the backgrounds in the song will keep changing throughout".

Soundtrack

Untitled

Yuvan Shankar Raja is composing the soundtrack and film score for Biriyani, continuing his association with Venkat Prabhu, which will be his 100th film. Prabhu has stated that the soundtrack album will have "at least 8 to 9 songs". Besides poet Vaali and the director's father Gangai Amaren, who regularly work in Prabhu's films, Niranjan Bharathi, who penned the song "Nee Naan" in the director's previous venture Mankatha, and Madhan Karky were brought on board to write the lyrics, the latter collaborating the first time with Yuvan Shankar Raja.

In August 2012, Venkat Prabhu and Yuvan Shankar Raja flew to a resort in Malaysia to compose the first tunes for the film. After being convinced by the director, film's lead actor Karthi agreed to sing a song titled "Mississippi" for the soundtrack, making his debut in playback singing, which was recorded in December 2012. In March 2013, Venkat Prabhu informed that two songs had been recorded and two more songs had been composed already, while two more were left to work on, which were both said to be "background songs", to be shown in montage. In late July 2013, four leading contemporary music directors, G. V. Prakash Kumar, S. Thaman, Vijay Antony and D. Imman, were roped in to sing the number "Thirumbi Vaa", which was termed as a "motivational song" by the director. Venkat Prabhu later disclosed that composer A. R. Rahman was also supposed to sing the song along with the four others, but that he could not be signed owing to a contract that prevented him from singing for other music directors. Sources however hinted that Rahman would be the chief guest at the audio launch. UK musicians, record producer Charles Bosco and R&B singer Arjun, were reported to have composed an additional track for the film, with the duo explaining later that it was a remix of one of the film's original tracks. Moreover, two more remixes were produced by Yuvan Shankar Raja himself, for the first time remixing his own composition, and Premgi Amaren, respectively.

The audio rights of the soundtrack were acquired by Sony Music in May 2013. The album is scheduled to be released on 15 August 2013 at the Leela Palace Hotel, Chennai., with sources suggesting that the team was planning to rope in leading music directors from the Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi film industries for the launch.

Marketing

Although constume designer Vasuki Baskar wrote on her social media account that the first look of the film would be released on November 13, during the Diwali festival, it was unveiled on December 15, 2012 at Yuvan Shankar Raja's concert in Malaysia. A 75-second teaser of the film was released on 25 May 2013, on the occasion of Karthi's birthday.

Release

Studio Green finalized September 6, 2013 as the release date, to be coninciding with the 2013 Vinayagar Chaturthi festival. In early August 2013, ATMUS Entertainment announced that it had acquired the US theatrical screening rights for the film with possible premieres on September 5, 2013.

External links

• Biriyani at IMDb