Ticket to stardom on 12 B

THE GUY on-board bus 12 B was spotted strolling around on the information superhighway on Saturday evening. Yes, we are talking about the man who a lot of fans believe is ``the best thing to happen to Kollywood after Madhavan''.

Shaam spent close to two hours at Dotcom Infoway on Saturday evening, spending an hour answering questions posted by fans. And an hour, chatting with them live over the net.

The 25 year old debutant hero attired casually, was making his chat debut as well for the site Galatta.com handling questions thrown at him with ease. Needless to say, the majority of the participants were girls, going by names.

Here are some of the most popular questions along with his answers as well: Do you have a girlfriend?

He started off replying with a flirty retort and then changed his mind halfway during the chat, when he said `No'.

Where are you from? ``Madurai''.

What is your religion Shaam? ``Indian,'' replied the hero.

Is that your voice in the movie? ``No, it was dubbed. I would be using my own voice from my next movie,'' he said.

What was it like, working with Jyotika?

The actor chose to reply rather soberly to that. ``Wonderful. She was nice to work with''.

And when fans asked him for his birth date, they had a surprise in store.

``Shaam, April 4 is Simran's birthday also,'' they informed him.

``Dai Shaam,'' called out a few girls, asking him for his email ID. He obliged as he gave away his email address (arien04@rediffmail.com). When someone asked him for his home address, Kollywood's latest star flashed out his homepage address: shaamonline.com.

Asked if he would prefer being Shakti, the guy who took the bus or the mechanic Shakti who missed the bus in 12B, Shaam said he preferred to be the mechanic Shakti.

``You dance so well, Your acting is so good'' and other compliments followed as Shaam made sure he wished every other person in the chat room at least a Hi.

While some chatters preferred to type in transliterated Tamil, Shaam promptly replied accordingly in Tamil as well. He seemed to enjoy the chat, especially when female fans asked him about his next movie. And he responded, ``Ay, Nee Romba Azhaga Irukkae''.

Well, that really is the name of Shaam's next movie. Incidentally, Shaam has signed up for another five movies including K. Balachander's next movie after `Parthalae Paravasam'.

About 12 B, Shaam has no regrets at all. In fact, he is grateful to director Jeeva for his brave effort in telling a story that is refreshingly different. Shaam hopes to be in Jeeva's next film as well.

If 12 B was about what happens if Shaam took the bus and what if he didn't, the chat itself had a similar structure: What if he was online and what if he was not!

When the moderators logged him out sharp at the end of the chat and logged him in again with a different nickname, Shaam could see for himself the conversation that took place without his presence. Just when one odd participant got started with Smart Alec comments, Shaam surprised the chatters with a re-entry and informed the trouble-maker that he read his comments.

The others enjoyed the joke as Shaam had the last laugh. And this was just his beginning.

By Sudhish Kamath

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Section  : Southern States
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