It was on April 27th, on this same day 10 years ago (2007), that a director broke all the cliches and made a very simple yet different Tamil film on street cricket with a bunch of newcomers. It was Chennai 600028 directed by Venkat Prabhu that gave birth to the multi-starrer genre and the film, in spite of no star cast, went on to become a cult hit that gained popularity among all the people.
Everybody could connect to the emotion that Venkat Prabhu had conveyed through his cricket and friendship based comedy film. Venkat Prabhu, who started off his career as an actor and singer brought out the creator/director in him through Chennai 28 after which he went on to make the thriller Saroja and comedy flick Goa, both being multi starrers too. He became known for his unique, engaging and entertaining films that had no nonsense comedy and dealt with the lives of few young guys.
In 2011, Venkat Prabhu took a big leap. His film with Ajith (Mankatha) released and went on to become a huge success. Venkat Prabhu was one of the first few people to portray the protagonist as an antagonist (Vinayak Mahadev) and still get people to like the character. And when this is done with someone as big as Ajith Kumar, it clearly shows the capability and smartness of the director.
Venkat Prabhu then made Biriyani with Karthi and Masss with Suriya. Just when he had moved to bigger stars, it was the calling for a quick reunion. Again in 2016, he decided to reunite the boys of RA Puram (Chennai 28) and it happened just perfectly. Chennai 28 part 2 released in December 2016 and gained positive reviews. The film also became a commercially successful venture and all those who watched the first part could relate to the transition of the emotions in the second part. It is now 10 years since Venkat Prabhu set foot in this Tamil industry. 10 years sure is a long time and the director seems like he is just getting started. Such fresh and entertaining content over and over again could only mean VP is here to stay.
Behindwoods wishes Venkat Prabhu on this very special occasion and wishes him the best of luck for his forthcoming ventures!
Akash Premkumar