Netru, Indru, Naalai
Netru, Indru, Naalai was a series of musical theatre performances, that were held in Chennai, India by acclaimed Indian film director Mani Ratnam. Choreography for the show was provided by Kala and Brinda. It had an equally large number of spectators with unconfirmed reports of close to 12,000 coming to watch.[1][2][3][4][5]
Overview
Conceptualized first in 2000, the original show was supposed to be a one off event in order to help The Banyan raise funds for its building corpus fund. The very first had the likes of Revathi Menon and Aamir Khan, then dubbing for Lagaan in Chennai, engaging the audiences to a rivetting show that was held at the Indian Airlines stadium in Chennai.
The next show was held at Indian Institute of Technology Madras in December 2002. It had an approximate audience of about 10,000 spectators. The format was similar to the first show, with songs and dances through the ages. The exclusive television rights were given the STAR Vijay, a subsidiary of Star TV.
In February 2006, the third installment Netru, Indru, Naalai, a Broadway musical style tribute to the Tamil filmdom premiered at the Jeppiar Engineering College, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Directed by Mani Ratnam, the three-hour song, dance, and drama extravaganza brings to life definitive celluloid moments from Tamil cinema, across its different eras (Netru (yesterday), Indru (today), and Naalai (tomorrow)), to the stage. The show features 100 dancers, as well as actors and actresses from across the country. Acclaimed film and theatre composer A. R. Rahman has composed a special song for the show, and other notable technicians involved in the production include art director Sabu Cyril, and award winning director/cinematographer Rajiv Menon.
The stage musical marks the first theatre production directed by Mani Ratnam, who, along with director Vasanth, and numerous other well known artistes, conceived the show in aid of The Banyan, a charity that aids mentally challenged and destitute women.
Personalities
Film personalities, mainly from Tamil cinema, Bollywood and Malayalam cinema, who took part in one or more of the shows include:
- Kamal Haasan
- Vijay
- R. Madhavan
- Vikram
- Mohanlal
- Asin Thottumkal
- Abhishek Bachchan
- Prakash Raj
- Bharath
- Shriya Saran
- Kiran Rathod
- Pooja
- Sadha
- Malavika
- Rohini
- Vivek
- Genelia D'Souza
- Sridevi
- Vineeth
- Abbas
- Shaam
- Vivek Oberoi
- Silambarasan
- Laila
- Revathi Menon
- Simran
- Srikanth
- Shobana
- Arya
- Bhanupriya
- Sandhya
- Reema Sen
- Shilpa Shetty
- Harini
- Sujatha Mohan
References
- ↑ "A Night Of Fun (Netru Indru Naalai)". IndiaGlitz. 6 February 2006.
- ↑ Sudhish Kamath (31 January 2006). "Netru, Indru, Nalai is back with a bang". The Hindu.
- ↑ S.R. Ashok Kumar (21 January 2006). "'Netru Indru Naalai' to be held on February 5". The Hindu.
- ↑ "Mani Ratnam to direct Star Vijay's extravaganza". Rediff. 15 June 2005.
- ↑ Shobha Warrier (24 August 2005). "Stars back unique Tamil musical". Rediff.