The brilliant first look teaser of Mayan, a bilingual being made in Tamil and English, was released with great fanfare
at the Prasad Lab in Chennai.
The teaser of the film, which is being jointly produced by J Rajesh Kannan of Fox and Crow Studios and Dato Ganesh
Mohana Sundaram of GKVM Elephant Pictures, was stunning and impressed one and all present on the occasion.
Dignitaries and celebrities such as Deputy Director and Consul General of Malaysia Lokithasan Dhanraj, well known
actor Soundar, the film’s producers GKVM Elephant Pictures Founder Dato Mohana Sundaram, Gunavathi Mohanasundaram,
Joint Producer Dato Ganesh Mohana Sundaram, the film’s hero, Vinod, heroine Priyanka Arul Murugan, Music director
responsible for background music and re-recording Jones Rupert, Cinematographer Arun Prasad, Art director Vanaraj,
VFX and designer Ramesh Acharya, Costume Designer Nivetha Joseph and the film’s director and co-producer J Rajesh
Kannan were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Dato Mohanasundaram said, “We have produced a film called Villavan in Malaysia. Following
that, we have produced an English film called Aiyai in Australia. However, we wanted to come here and make a Tamil
film here as my mom and dad were born here in Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu.It was at this point that I met the director
of this film Rajesh Kannan. I am a devotee of vinayagar. As they say that the face is the index of the mind, I liked
him the moment I saw him. I was amazed by his crew. I am happy to jointly produce this film along with him.”
Deputy director and consul general of Malaysia Lokithasan Dhanraj said, ” We have helped several filmmakers from
India to go to Malaysia to make films. This is the first time that someone from Malaysia is coming here to make a
film. This is a good initiative. There are several talented people in Malaysia. This will be a good opportunity for
them to showcase their talents to the outside world.”
Actor Vinod, who is making his debut in the Tamil film industry here, said, “I thank my parents for giving me this
opportunity. I know Rajesh sir. He is also a Shiva devotee like me. This is my first film in Kollywood. This
opportunity has come to me because of Shiva. This teaser looks great because of the amazing work from the entire
team.”
Actress Priyanka, who plays the heroine in the English version of the film, said, “I am excited after watching the
teaser. I am a Tamil girl. I am proud that I am a part of a Hollywood film. Very rare to see an English Indian film.
Thankful to director Rajesh Kannan for giving me this opportunity.”
Actor Soundar, who spoke on the occasion said, “I have not come here as the chief guest. I have come here as a brother
of the film unit. I have known director Rajesh for the last 10 years. I’ve known Rajesh for almost 10 years. I have
known him from the time I came from Paris and decided to produce a short film in his direction. Rajesh never has any
negativity. He is a positive person and is sure to succeed.”
Arun Prasad, who is the cinematographer of the film said, “I thank Rajesh Kannan and nature whom I consider God. In 2011, I spoke for five minutes with the director. I said I wanted to relax and therefore felt like talking to him for five minutes. He asked me if whether we should talk about stories. I said yes and it was then that he narrated 67 stories in over three-and-a-half hours.”
Speaking on the occasion, director and co-producer of the film, Rajesh Kannan said, “The title Mayan is bound to make
many people think of the Mayan culture. If you were to look at it that way, it is that. However, that culture is over three thousand years old. If you look at our history — the history of Tamil civilisation, it is over 25000 years old. More importantly, the term Shivan goes back even before that. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, the Tamil Shivan is Mayan.
“The reason why we have chosen to make this a bilingual — in English and Tamil — is because the story and screenplay of this film is bound to suit any geographical territory in this world. Be it China, Mexico or the Los Angeles, this will appeal to audiences all over the world. We thought that the salient features of the Tamil culture and civilisation must be taken to the outside world. Therefore, we decided to make it in Tamil and in English simultaneously.
“They brought us up by saying that God would poke our eyes if we committed sins. Is that true? We do not know if that is true or not. What we do know is that there is something called Karma and that when we do some good, we reap goodness and when we do bad things, then Karma turns into something evil against us. We have also spoken about the power of the curse of the downtrodden in this film.
“Earlier, people were like lions. The lion only hunts when it is hungry. Once its hunger is satiated, it leaves the remaining food there itself and moves on. However, now, people have turned into hyenas. What hyenas do is that they hunt, eat and then try to save the remaining meat for the next day. Therefore, bodies lie strewn around it always. Similarly, people keep saving money everywhere now.
“Under such circumstances, what if one of the oldest yogi’s , Lord Shiva, feels for a moment as to why he created humans? What will its resultant outcome be? That is Mayan. Mayan is a fantasy. Mayan is also based in reality. I wanted to show Shiva stylishly. Therefore, I chose Vinod, who appeared to be apt for the role.”
At the end of the function, the team released a book containing the first look of the film.
