Audio-launches are usually boring and drab affairs with speaker after speaker praising the director and the film’s crew sky-high. However, the audio-launch of Kaliyugam, held at Prasad Labs in Chennai, was a lively affair. The film features a song penned by popular writer Manushyaputhiran.
During his speech, Lyricist Arivumathi regretted Manush’s “negative” comments about the highly-praised film Vazhakku Enn 18/9 in a popular weekly. “If critics such as Manush take to task “good films” such as this, how would the Tamil film industry manage to find talented film-makers?” was Arivumathi’s poser. Manush replied that he was only criticizing a good film-maker’s work and said that he won’t do so with a usual director’s film.
Editor Mohan took Arivumathi’s side when he said “Manush might not be aware of the pains a producer undergoes when his sincere work is criticized. Critics should think about the “negative impact” their criticism might have in driving the public away from the halls. The critic, in specific cases, might let the director know his views while talking to him in person and the criticism need not be in the form of a review.”
Arivumathi then took things to a higher level when he said “Manush claims to be a littérateur but he brings to the forefront the likes of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan who are hardly classified as littérateurs though Kamal passes off as one. However, he can’t be a better littérateur than author Ramakrishnan who at times gets sidelined!”
Manush was really miffed by then and said “If film-makers feel that they are hurt or humiliated by criticisms by people like us, there is no need for them to invite us to events such as these!”