Music and preview of I. Mutharasan’s ‘Arisi’ movie released by Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin
Music and preview release ceremony of ‘Arisi’ movie starring I. Mutharasan
Produced by P. Shanmugam – Co-producers S.M. Prabhakaran – Mahendra Prasad on behalf of Monica Productions, the music and preview release ceremony of the movie ‘Arisi’, directed by debutant director S. A. Vijayakumar and starring former state general secretary of the Communist Party of India, Mr. Mutharasan and Samuthirakani as the protagonists of the story, was held in Chennai on a grand scale.
Debutant director S. A. Directed by Vijayakumar, the film ‘Arisi’ stars I. Mutharasan, Samuthirakani, Subramania Siva, Rusyamayan and others in the lead roles. Johns V. Gerin has edited the film and music has been composed by KS Nadis. Musician Ilayaraja has composed the music. The music and preview launch of this film, which is being prepared as an emotional work focusing on agriculture and farmers, was held in Valluvar Kottam, Chennai. Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin presided over the event and released the music and preview of the film ‘Arisi’, and Vaiko, the founding president of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, received it.
Mr. Vaiko said, ” In this film called Arisi Oyoin Maru Peer, I. Mutharasan, a leading leader of the Communist Party of India, has transformed into a farmer. He is not a trained actor, but he is naturally seen throwing rice in a plowed field with a turban tied around his neck. Only if he has been throwing rice in the field for a long time can he throw rice like that.
My brother Mutharasan has entered the world of art. He has no training or prior experience. But I could feel within a few minutes of watching the preview of the film that he has become that character.
He became world famous by composing the symphony music in the film Arisi. The songs composed by that great genius, who was called a musician by my brother, have a background music that touches the heart.
I know that this film will be released soon and I am sure that it will receive public support. This epic, which gives the philosophy that rice is the lifeblood of the world to the farmers and the peasants, is a great success for the millions of farmers living in Tamil Nadu. I have never said that you should watch movies on any platform. But you, the farmers who are the doctors who cure hunger and who rely on the soil, the plough, the seeds you sow, and who are the doctors who live in the world, should come to the theaters. Farmers should create a situation where rice has achieved great success. Even though your sorrows and struggles are going on on one side, where the art world decides politics and the fate of the country… because of agriculture, because of agriculture, this epic will be successful. I extend my congratulations to all the actors who will be participating in this. I wish our Samuthirakani to receive even higher awards through the films she has acted in. I wish the future of the producers who made this film to be bright. I would like to express my appreciation and best wishes to Mutharasan, who loves me as a soul, and say that we will win not only in the film Arisi but also in the future election arena, thank you. ” He said.
Mr. Udhayanidhi Stalin said, ” Mr. Selva Perunthakai- Mr. Vaiko- Mr. Thirumavalavan- Mr. Veerapandian- Mr. Professor Kadhar Maideen- Mr. Pudumadam Ali- Mr. Pazhala Aasaithambi- Mr. Selvaraj- Mr. Shanmugam- Mr. Vanniyarasu- Mr. S. S. Balaji- Mr. Marimuthu- Mr. Ruby Manoharan- Mr. Kanagaraj- Mr. Thirumurugan Gandhi- Doctor Sharmila- Mr. Chitrarasu- Mr. Good morning to Mohammed Abubakkar – Producer Shanmugam – Director Vijayakumar – Mr. R K Selvamani – and everyone who has come here.
First of all, I would like to express my appreciation and congratulations to this film crew. First of all, they would hold the music and preview function of such films in a very big star hotel. They would hold it in a big cinema hall. But first of all, I would like to express my appreciation and congratulations to the Arisi film crew for holding this event in this Valluvar Kottam built by the artist.
In these four years of taking charge as a minister, I have not attended any film-related event. All journalists know this well. I will definitely tell anyone who asks that I do not attend cinema-related events.
But when my brother Mutharasan asked, I could not refuse. I said, “Tell me the date, I will definitely come.” After that, he asked for the time. I said, “Tell me that too.”
The Tamil Nadu government’s awards ceremony for the film industry, which had not been given for many years, took place yesterday. For the last ten years, Tamil Nadu government awards were not given during the AIADMK regime. A committee was formed for this. I got the opportunity to present film awards from 2017 to 2022.
I have left the film industry and am engaged in public service. But today, my brother Mutharasan, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India, has given me an entry into cinema from public service. No matter how much success he has achieved, he will give importance to public service. No one should have any doubt about that. Even if he reaches the top in cinema, what he always wants is to be with the people. This is well known to all the people of Tamil Nadu.
I extend my congratulations to my brother Mutharasan, who has come to cinema from politics, as a pioneer in the film industry.
My brother Mutharasan is someone who has fought for the people in the field for many years. He has come to speak for the rights of the people on the screen as well. Especially in this film, he has played a farmer. When you look at the poster, trailer and songs of this film, if you say that he has lived as a farmer rather than acting as a farmer, everyone can definitely accept it.
Not only Mutharasan, but also my brother Samuthirakani can consistently speak for communist principles. If communists had taken to the field and fought for the farmers, they would have definitely succeeded. They will succeed this time too. Similarly, this film will definitely be a successful film.
The title of this film is Rice, the other name of life. How much people once suffered for this rice. They were slaves to the farmers their entire lives. Even though they worked in the fields all the time, they did not have the opportunity to have even a meal. Communists have fought so many battles for the rights of such agricultural workers and have won.
That is why Dr. Kalaignar often says. If I had not met Father Periyar and Anna in my life… I would have become a communist comrade.
It was such a Kalaignar who, after coming to power in 1969, made all the arrangements for the poor to get rice. Dr. Kalaignar created a situation in Tamil Nadu where no one should wait at the doorstep of others for a single rice.
More specifically, in the 2006 assembly elections, Kalaignar made an election promise. He was the first to announce a kilo of rice for 2 rupees. This was very well received by the people. Because at that time, rice and rice were a big dream for many families. Dr. Kalaignar made that dream come true. Later, he reduced those two rupees to one rupee. The next step is that today, free rice has also come. Dr. Kalaignar is the one who solved this rice problem, which is the basic need of the people.
In that way, I am confident that this film, which speaks about the rights of farmers, will definitely win. On behalf of all of you, I wish brother Mutharasan’s political field work and artistic work to be even more successful. ” He said.
Mr. Selva Perundakai spoke, ” This film should become a successful film. Whatever is needed for this period, Comrade Mutharasan has taken it forward. Yesterday, when I attended a seminar on agriculture, there is a shortage of 53.8 million metric tons of rice in India. Compared to the last year 2023-24, the production of rice is decreasing every year. Agricultural schemes are not working properly in India. On one hand, the wrath of nature (changing monsoons – droughts – changing climate – soil quality – fertility changes every time..) In such an environment, rice production in India is decreasing.
The reason why the agricultural sector is being destroyed day by day in India is that an unscrupulous regime has been operating in India for the last 12 years. The BJP government has already passed three laws against agricultural citizens without any debate or vote in Parliament. All the agricultural citizens and the farming community in India gathered together and besieged New Delhi and fought for 13 months. They sacrificed many lives in this struggle. After that, Modi became clear and how he could pass three black laws overnight without any debate
They brought… they took back those three agricultural laws.
The livelihood of Indian agricultural citizens is being mortgaged in the US-India trade agreement. At this time, this film called Rice should be taken as a lesson and protected by protecting agriculture rather than being a film. We should support the livelihood of the farming people. Therefore, this film should become a successful film. Everyone should watch it. We had already announced that the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee would release this film. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee will also bear the cost of it. Such films should be encouraged. Therefore, I extend my heartfelt appreciation and congratulations to the director who directed this film, the actors, the technicians who worked on it, and Mutharasan, who has come to the film from his public life.
Mr. Thol Thirumavalavan said, “This film is being released at an appropriate time. Indian Prime Minister Modi, who has signed a trade agreement with the US, or the BJP government, has agreed to import all food items including wheat and rice from the US duty-free for 20 years. This agreement has been reached in a situation where there is no tax on any product imported from the United States. This has caused great shock among the farmers and cultivators.
Yesterday, i.e. on the 12th, the Left-wing movements and the United Farmers Front all came together to hold a general strike across India. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Nadu also participated in it. We are in a situation where farmers can no longer produce.
In this film, I produce rice. Don’t you have the authority to determine the price for it? They ask.
We need to understand the depth of this question. We have not yet been able to bring a law to determine the support price. We can determine the price for products produced by others. But there is a situation where farmers cannot even determine the support price for the products they produce, including rice and wheat. Where can this lead? It has made us afraid of what agricultural production will be like in the future.
Most of the lands are becoming wastelands. All the crop lands adjacent to Chennai have been given to corporate companies in the name of industrial development. All agricultural lands are now being converted into flats in the name of real estate. We are getting close to the point where we can produce for our own needs. Once upon a time, we were able to get our vegetables from the local market in our village. We were able to produce grains like millet, sorghum, etc. Today, that agriculture does not exist. We used to collect the waste of our cattle and sheep at home and convert it into manure and use it to cultivate agricultural land. That was the case back then. The government did not force us to cultivate this. But today, farmers are being forced to produce for the world market. He gives fertilizer to sugarcane production and maize production. He himself gives pesticides. Farmers are not able to freely engage in their own production.
He is also reorganizing production for the world market in the way he wants. Farmers do not have freedom in that. Land is being lost. Crores of people have become agricultural wage laborers. The time when farmers, agricultural labourers and other agricultural labourers fought for land for themselves is over, and now there is a situation where there is no land for agriculture. It is in this context that we are talking about paddy production, rice, etc.
If agriculture is destroyed, the condition of future generations will become worrisome. We know to what extent the agricultural laws were brought against the farmers and against the agricultural workers. If the assembly elections were not held in states like Punjab and Haryana, they would not have withdrawn those laws. But the government that has withdrawn the agricultural laws has not yet withdrawn the workers’ package laws. There were 44 laws. They have grouped them all into four. The situation is such that it is impossible to form a workers’ union… It is such a situation that it is not possible to even demand their wages and salaries. There is a concern about where all this will lead.
In such an environment, the leader of the Left wing movements, who fought with the people and laid down his life for the people, is now acting as a hero in the film industry. This is not an approach to attract attention. There is a politics within that, and that too is our politics. I believe there is a left-wing politics.
I endorse the things Samuthirakani said.
In Tamil Nadu, the arts and politics are intertwined in a way that is not the case in any other state in India. We see Tamils talking about people looking for their own Chief Minister on screen.
Here, instead of giving importance to ideology, struggles, sacrifices, progressive thoughts, our leader has left behind so many crores of income and has come to politics, so there is a situation in Tamil Nadu where we can say that he should be made the Chief Minister.
Don’t go from village to village, don’t fight for the people, don’t take cases, don’t get beaten, don’t go to jail, if you appear on screen, you can become the Chief Minister in Tamil Nadu. This is something that is not the case in any other state in India.
There are actors, directors in every state in India. There are superstars. Amitabh Bachchan, who is India’s superstar, never wanted to be the Chief Minister. There are superstars like Mammootty in Kerala. They also never wanted to be the Chief Minister. It is the same in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but only in Tamil Nadu, it is said that if you act in one film, you can become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu next.
Everyone has that right in a democracy, I do not deny it. But there is this trend of thinking, this psychology, the impact that this film industry has had on Tamil Nadu politics, and there is a concern that it is reactionary. I believe that Samuthirakani has proposed that the leftists should be more actively involved in the arts sector here. There are many communist comrades in the film industry.
Comrades, today the politics of the right wing is dominant. They use strategies that they can seize power using any weapon. They change their strategies from state to state.
In Tamil Nadu, you cannot win politics by mentioning Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, or Lord Rama. They tried mentioning Lord Muruga. They tried taking up work, but it did not work. They even took up Thiruparankundram in their hands, but their politics did not succeed here.
Therefore, they are using a strategy in Tamil Nadu like Delhi to bring about a regime change by manipulating the film industry.
Regime change is inevitable. It will be here today. It will be gone tomorrow. But we need a vision of who has what thoughts, who can speak what politics, who can take what stance, who should be in power. The right-wing’s hand is getting stronger day by day, which is harmful to the entire nation. The agreement signed with America is proof of this.
If we want to protect agriculture, if we want to protect farmers, if we want to protect agricultural wage workers, then left-wing politics must become stronger on Indian soil. It must expand on all platforms. It is because it operates in the name of Dravidianism in Tamil Nadu that we see the leftists joining hands with Dravidian parties, especially today in the secular progressive alliance.
Periyar politics, Marxist politics, and Ambedkarite politics can travel in the same straight line. There may be contradictions in prioritization. But all these are left-wing politics. So I believe that Annan Mutharasan has appeared as the hero in this film with the hope that we will handle the film industry with that understanding.
I also feel that he has the responsibility and the character to make this art industry left-wing. My congratulations to him. I extend my congratulations to the director who is directing this film and to everyone who has worked with him. I wish that this film will receive the unanimous support of the people and become a success.” He said.
Actor Samuthirakani speaking,
” I have been on many platforms. This is a special platform for me. I see creators in two ways. Those who provide work that is liked by those in the society are one type. Those who provide work that is needed by this society are another type. This is the work that is needed by the society.
In the current environment, works like medicine always come. I see this as such a work. My heartfelt thanks to director Vijayakumar for giving me the opportunity to act in this film.
While I was busy working, I received a phone call. As soon as I heard the name Mutharasan, I said without saying anything, let’s go to the shooting site. This is the respect I give to the red cloth. This red cloth contains everything: love. There is great compassion, there is great anger, there is dedication to people. This is how I see the color red. When I stand with him, when I work with him.. are there even humans like this..! I was amazed and amazed.
[14/02, 22:37] Flowing Fizz: He gave me a gift. I will call him father. I am very happy.
A woman acted as his companion. They said his name was Russia. That also surprised me. When I asked him, he said that many people in our village have Russia before their name.
This is a work created by all those who love this land and its people together.
In the coming times, the fight will be for food. Not for money. The one who has good food will be very rich. The rich man is different. The rich man is different.
The one who has good air, good water, good food is the rich man. This is the direction this society is moving towards. We should go to him and join hands with him. That is the environment that is coming. We should protect the natural resources that the previous generation protected and pass them on to the next generation. We have a lot of responsibility. Rice is a film made with such responsibility. This will be a great document for the next generation. It will be talked about for a long time. If everyone goes to the cinema and gives this a good recognition, then such a good work will come to you. Let’s win. ” He said.
Director Vijayakumar said,
” This film is a long-term project. Everyone knows that we made it with difficulty. Thank you to the producers Shanmugam – Prabhakaran – Mahendran – who helped us with this. We did not expect this festival to be held on such a grand scale. I thank God for this.
Thank you to the actors and actresses who acted in it, including Ira Mutharasan and Samuthirakani, and the technicians.
This film will be an emotional film. I am confident that this film will be a great symbol for me.
This film was created because of the experience we got when we went to the village of Ghee Garbage,” he said.
Producer Shanmugam said,
” Director Vijayakumar told me the story of this film and first said that we should make a making video. How much would it cost? I asked him and he told me an amount and I gave it. After that, we met Mutharasan and made a making video with his approval. After watching this, we talked and talked about expanding it further and it has become such a big film. I never expected it to be such a big film. Thank you to everyone who supported this,” he said.
Mr. Ira. Mutharasan spoke,
“Director Vijayakumar and Elango first met me and asked me to come and act in a documentary on agriculture for two days. I immediately shook my hand and firmly said that I would not come. After that, he told me the story. The story was all good. Go to the village and shoot. I said that our comrades will help you.
Director Vijayakumar is a great guy. He has the potential to achieve.
After that, I discussed this with Comrade Veerapandian. I told him that he had been invited to act in the documentary for two days. Upon hearing this, Veerapandian said that it was nothing wrong and that he could act freely. They will send it for an award. He said.
After that, when Comrade Periyasamy Idamum told me about this, he said that he could also act.
After that, I calculated two days as three days and went to the shooting site. At that time, I did not know what a documentary was? What a long film was? I did not know anything. I had a different experience on the shooting site.
After that, the director slowly said that whenever you get free time, you can shoot.
After that, it took 40 days. After that, he said that Samuthirakani should act with you. At that time, I said that Samuthirakani would not act with me, I would act with Samuthirakani.
What happened is that I left politics and went to cinema.. It has become a situation. But to tell the truth, this is like an accident. My entire time is politics. I will clarify that here.
Soon this film will be released in theaters. Everyone should watch it. I will leave it to your decision how the film is.
Thank you to everyone who accepted my invitation and came here. “Thank you to the actors, actresses, technicians and the people of Ghee Garbage Village who worked on the film,” he said.
