Vivekh sir is down-to-earth; Simbu, a revelation

Director Sethuraman, who is helming Santhanam’s Sakka Podu Podu Raja (SPPR), has almost completed shooting for the film. Save for a song sequence, which will be shot on a set in Chennai, he informs that the team has finished filming for the film. The director, who has been with the ace comedian-turned-hero since his Lollu Sabha days (he had directed the show after its original director Rambhala had left it), is also part of the team that writes Santhanam’s comedy tracks.
SPPR, he says, is a romcom, and Vaibhavi Shandilya, who also pairs up with Server Sundaram, plays the female lead.The film is produced by VTV Ganesh and it was he who helped bring big names like Vivekh and Simbu, who is composing the music, on board, says Sethuraman.
Though Vivekh is a senior comedian, the director says that he enjoyed shooting scenes with Santhanam a lot. “He is very down-to-earth. He has a lot of combination scenes with Santhanam. We used to develop the lines right until we went for the shot, and he would always encourage this approach. He also offered his own suggestions and accepted our views. We needed a big-name comedian for the character to be very hilarious, and I would say our vision has come to life because of Vivekh sir,” he says.
As for Simbu, he says, “I’ve interacted with Simbu previously many times, but this time, it was different as he is composing for the first time. But he was a revelation. He gave us a lot of tunes as options, out of which we chose five. The best part was he sang and played those tunes to us, which most composers don’t do nowadays.”