Settai is all set to release next Friday and the team is excited about the way the film has turned out. Director R Kannan has apparently turned around the original Delhi Belly in Hindi, which had more adult comedy, into a complete family entertainer which has obtained a U certificate from the censors.
The film has Hansika, Anjali, Arya, Santhanam and Premgi Amaren in the lead along with Nasser who plays the villain. The film has music by Thaman of which the Agalathey number has been topping the charts already. The film is special to Santhanam, since for the first time his name will appear in the credits list as dialogue writer. Producer G Dhananjayan stresses, “He was very careful to see that there be no crassness or anything hurtful to anybody in the dialogues since its for a family audience.”
Neetu Chandra has shot a special number with Santhanam, Arya and Premgi. Anjali who has a lip lock with Arya in the movie says, “Its done in a decent manner so I said ok. People are going to see a different Anjali from my previous films. I’ve done several roles as a dominating chatterbox but in Settai I play a Mumbai based journalist with a modern day approach to life.” Though co-star Arya often teases her about her weight loss during the making of the film, Hansika declares, “I’m fitter now and that’s a good thing!”
The film which has a running time of 2:06 hours has several songs thrown in which were not part of the original. Nasser is all praise for Kannan, “Kannan has done a wonderful transformation of Delhi Belly. We took the soul of the film since we couldn’t portray many things from the original, in Tamil. After a long time I’m playing a crude villain. The fun I had with this team has me feeling 10 years younger and shooting was a tension-free time of relaxation for me!”
For Kannan, the movie has been a learning experience, “I learnt a lot just observing Nasser. Even his silences speak volumes!” For the man who has done the remake of Jab We Met earlier, Settai was a bigger challenge, since a lot of care had to be taken to make it fit for family audiences. The film is set in Mumbai and throws light on some of the lighter aspects of a journalist’s life with its racy dialogues.