After managing to procure a much-coveted ‘U’ certificate this week, Ajith and team Veeram are apparently pulling all stops to step up promotion ahead of the January 10 release.
The actor himself will be rejuvenated as his last release, Arrambam, was also censored with a U certificate and went on to become the highest grossing Deepavali release in recent times.
In fact, it is learnt that Ajith himself has watched the first cut of the film that was shown to the censors and was confident that it would do well, “It’s a complete entertainer that everyone can watch and this Is proved by the censor board’s faith in giving us a U certificate,” said a source close to the unit.
He added that Ajith had complimented Veeram’s director Siva for the slick work and editing that had been done to the film. The U certificate is awarded to films that can be shown universally to all age-groups of people, without any restraint on a minimum age.
Prior to Veeram and Arrambam, Ajith’s previous two releases were Billa II and Mankatha. While the ill-destined Billa prequel was given an A (Adult) rating by the Central Board for Film Certification for the excessive violence, Mankatha managed a U/A rating and went on to become a resurgent commercial hit.
The censor news comes as a breath of fresh air for many of the actor’s fans as the movie’s audio has proved a bit of a dampener. Tuned by Devi Sri Prasad or DSP as he likes to call himself, the five-song soundtrack has tasted lukewarm success and has been panned by critics for reportedly being unimaginative.
“Fans had huge celebrations in Madurai last weekend because Thala had said that the audio should be launched in a small way. Now that the censor certificate has come, nothing can stop Veeram making Pongal special,” said G Paneerselvam, co-ordinator of an Ajith fan club near Ponnamallee.