Some glitz to glamour

IN QUICK succession came one invitation after another from showville. And each stood out for its originality. Yes...it is exit formal, enter informal. Mahurat invites are no longer those prosaic pieces of printed paper. Innovation is in... in a big way that is. As creativity gets ceaseless, budgets balloon. And filmwallas are catching up on the trend - real fast.

A few days ago, it was a miniature bat and ball that beckoned attention. The foot-long bat was apparently the invitation to Manoj Kumar's "I Love You Daa" directed by C.Rajadurai. The film is said to portray "A game of love". So quite naturally, the bat was the choice (Saurav, Azhar and the likes are you listening?). Handy, it certainly is - not the kind of thing you'd throw away.

Soon came R. Parthiban's invitation for the mahurat of "Aelaelo". Shaped like a negative film strip with perforated trimmings, the plastic keepsake has two photographs of Parthiban and music wizard A.R.Rahman captured in two different moods on either side, with the invite inserted in the middle. Once, the card is removed, you are taken by surprise. "Yeh. Now, insert your photo here" screams the space.

If Parthiban's package, as always was novel, the invite to Media Dreams-Kamal Hassan's mahurat for their forthcoming "Pammal K.Sambandam" startled one by its size. The mega invite (it sure must have involved mega bucks too!) with pages shaped in the form of the alphabet K, was captivating, to say the least. Attractive pictures of Kamal and Simran, the lead pair, besides that of Abbas and Devyani (is she in it or out?) were featured on the invitation.

Going back, cine circles claim that Parthiban has been a trend- setter of sorts. The actor-director, who entered showbiz with his path-breaking "Pudhiya Paadhai" has always harped on originality. His fetish for innovation saw several such invitations come from his office. Ask him about it, and pat comes the reply, "I try my best to be different. In fact, because of escalating costs and other preoccupations, I intended to dash off simple invites on white paper. But, as soon as "Aelaelo" was announced, friends and fans called up to enquire what the speciality was this time round. So...I had to digress from the beaten track once again."

Making no bones about his rags-to-raves story, Parthiban goes on..."Actually, this idea of giving away creative cards came when I was desperately trying to gain a toe-hold in tinseldom. One of my close friends had invited me to the first birthday celebrations of his son. All I had was 75 paise. And I had to gift the child something. So I drew the outline of Lord Vinayaka on a paper, bought broken glass bangles for 25 paise and stuck them on the outline. It looked good. I wrote a few lines beneath the art work and wrapped it in such a way that one couldn't open it easily.

I didn't want to get embarrassed, you see..."

A few months later during a visit to the same friend, Parthiban was surprised to see his objet d'art adorning a vantage position in the house. This kindled his creative flame further.

True, these cards add glitz to the glamorous world of showbiz. But will the innovations stop here ... or percolate to the big screen? Let's wait and see...

T. KRITHIKA REDDY

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Section  : Entertainment
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