Shaji remakes 'Chinthamani' in Tamil

Popular Malayalam director Shaji Kailash has completed his Tamil remake of his super-duper hit Malayalam film "Chinthamani Kola" in Tamil. The title of the Tamil version is "Ellam Avan Seyal".

Not so well-known actor RK plays the lead role of a lawyer. A new girl from Mollywood debuts as the heroine.

Shaji, known for his action films, has returned to Tamil after a long hiatus.

Nine Mumbai models play important roles with shades of native. Vadivelu is cast as 'Vandu Murugan', a funny lawyer. A vital role was given to late actor Raghuvaran and the scenes featuring him in the movie were filmed before his death. Senior actresses Roja and Sukanya also appear in 'crucial' roles. The huge supporting cast includes Asish Vidyarthi, Nasser, Manivannan, Visu, Manoj K. Jayan and Thalaivasal Vijay.

The film's strong points are its novel screenplay and its fiery court scene in the climax, according to Shaji.

The heroine Bhama is a college student. Her campus life is made miserable by ragging done by girls in a rowdy gang. Later Bhama is murdered. The hero, RK, investigates the case and brings to book all the nine girls involved in the crime. A surprise twist in the case is the climax.

In the Malayalam flick, Suresh Gopi played the lead role. For the Tamil version, the hero character needed an actor without an image as the hero should also have traits of villain and actor RK fitted the bill, Shaji says.

Vidyasagar composes the music. For the first time in the Indian film industry, the 'spot editing' method has been used. Sound, light and dialogues are added on the spot while shooting and Shaji hopes this will be well received by the audience.