In a quick turnaround, the team behind Vijay-starrer Jilla went ahead and hurriedly did a soft launch of the film’s music on Thursday afternoon, merely hours before the music of Ajith’s Veeram was set to be released. The head-on collision between both stars’ films, set for Pongal 2014, has been generating a lot of hype, especially after their respective audio launches were set for December 20 (Veeram) and December 21 (Jilla).
Explaining the sudden urge to get their audio launched ahead of Veeram, producer R B Choudary brushed it off as coincidence, “It is difficult to get a hold of a star like Vijay. Luckily, he was hosting this programme to give five of his initial producers cheques for `5 lakh each as they had fallen on hard times. So, we decided to club the two programmes,” he said but revealed on being pressed further, “Also, there has been a lot of doubt about whether the film will release for Pongal because of a few problems. To reassure people, we have done this event publicly on this stage,” he said.
The ‘problems’ Choudary referred to are the Income Tax raids on his office and their claims that incriminating evidence of disproportinate assets were being studied at present.
Rather unsurprisingly, Vijay himself attended the audio launch, unlike Ajith, who shys away from fanfare and public appearances. Veeram’s audio was launched on a FM station and is available in music stores, while Jilla’s music will be available from Saturday, as originally scheduled.
Explaining the need to donate money to struggling producers who once provided him a foothold into Kollywood, Vijay said, “Everybody puts only effort into films but a producer put money into it. From the puja to when the returns come in, hundreds of people need to be paid and fed, by producers. When I heard that they have financial troubles, people who launched me in my beginning stages, I wanted to do something for them. You may wonder why we have made a spectacle of it, but when good things occur, you must do it immediately. I wanted to meet them in my home or office but my manager didn’t let me do it. Other people may also want to help other struggling producers.”
Jilla’s director Neason and music director D Imman were all praise for the way things were proceeding with the film.