Yasmin Ponnappa of Aaranya Kaandam fame talks about her experiences while filming the latest song of the city that has gone viral
Her performance in the critically acclaimed Tamil film Aaranya Kaandam made people sit up and take notice. And now, model-actress Yasmin Ponnappa is back with The Madras Song, a four-and-a-half-minute video that chronicles the experiences of a young girl visiting Madras for the first time.
The natural abandon with which she prances around the city’s streets have had youngsters gushing about her. Tell her that, and she says, “It was meant to be natural. When we started filming, we were particular that it should not be like an act, but capture spontaneity.”
She might be from Bangalore, but it is namma Madras that Yasmin loves. “I still can’t get myself to call it Chennai,” she smiles. “I prefer Madras. I have a lot of wonderful friends here, and the camaraderie among everyone in the city is just fantastic.”
That’s exactly what The Madras Song team wanted to portray in its latest video. “Whatever Vijay (director Vijay Prabhakaran) depicted in the storyboard was exactly expressed in the video. His brief to me before we started shoot was simple — enjoy Madras like you would. I did that. I guess it’s the natural celebration of the city that people like,” she says.
It’s not just the city’s sights and sounds that the song, sung by Nenjukule singer Shakthisree Gopalan, celebrates, but also some famous personalities. Celebrities such as Viswanathan Anand, Crazy Mohan and Sudha Ragunathan feature in the video. Ask Yasmin about it, and she says, “The selfie is a rage now and we wanted to capture that. Shooting selfies with Chennai’s celebrities was a fantastic experience. And, playing chess with Anand was something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
The actress loves the serenity and culturally charged atmosphere in Kalakshetra, one of her favourite places. “The place is so beautiful,” she says, “There are three kinds of prayers there, and just hearing them is so uplifting. Madras always celebrates its culture and Kalakshetra is proof of that.”
On the film front, she’s still waiting for an interesting project to come up. “There have been scripts, yes, but none as interesting as Aaranya Kaandam. I don’t believe in doing films just for the heck of it. I’m glad that after a powerful role in Aaranya Kaandam, The Madras Song has come up.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Srinivasa Ramanujam / August 21st, 2014
