It is not every day that the stars from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bollywood descend in Chennai. But then who can resist a get-together of friends? Not even the stars.
At the sixth reunion of south Indian actors from the eighties, held in Chennai on August 29, the Moulin Rouge theme dominated not just the costumes worn by the 34 guests but in the red and gold decor at the venue.
From God’s Own Country came Mohanlal, Shobhana, Jayaram, Menaka, Rahman and Parvathy while Chiranjeevi, Jayasudha and Venkatesh represented the Telugu industry. Tamil cinema’s Sathyaraj, Sarath Kumar, Prabhu, Bhagyaraj and Revathy were also present. Bollywood actors Jackie Shroff, Swapna and Poonam Dhillon added to the glitter.
With karaoke singing by Sumalatha and Jayasudha ringing in the eighties spirit, followed by a dance performance by Poornima Bhagyaraj, Suhasini Maniratnam and Menaka, the guests held their breath as Mohanlal tried a magical experiment with Sarath Kumar as his subject.
Taking home gifts, (lungis this time), the night resonated with the song Lungi Dance.
“We are in touch over WhatsApp,” said Suhasini Maniratnam, who had made the arrangements along with Lissy and Khushbu. “Sumalatha suggested the colour and I came up with the Moulin Rouge theme. It was very difficult to execute and involved ten days of shopping for masks, feathers, candles, neon caps and the like.”
Taking home sweet memories, an exhausted Suhasini added, “Next year, we are looking forward to seeing Sridevi, Anil Kapoor and Shabana Azmi at the reunion.”
