Chennai, 31 December 2013: UTV Motion Pictures today announced that actor Shaam of hit films like (12-B, Lesa Lesa, Ullam Ketkume Eiyarkai, Kick and the recent hit film 6 Mezhuguvarthigal) will be the third lead hero of the Studios’ Tamil film Purampokku (No Man’s Land), written and directed by National Award winning director S.P. Jhananathan (who made hit films like Sham-Arun Vijay’s ‘Iyarkai’, Jiiva’s ‘E’ and Jayam Ravi’s ‘Peranmai’). The film already has two leading Tamil stars, Arya and Vijay Sethupathi (of Pizza, Naduvule Konjam Pakkathai Kanom and Soodhu Kavvum fame) and with Shaam as the third lead hero, the film is set to be bigger and stronger.
The film produced by UTV Motion Pictures in association with S.P. Jhananathan’s Binary Pictures is currently under pre-production and will commence shooting from 14th January 2014 at Kullu Manali in Punjab. The shooting will continue in North Indian locations like Bikaner, Jaipur, Pokhran, Jaisalmer for a month before heading to Hyderabad and Chennai. The film is slated for a July / August 2014 release. Ekambaram will be the cinematographer of the film and will be edited by V.T. Vijayan.
“We are delighted to rope in Shaam as the third lead hero for the film, who worked with S.P. Jhananathan and Arya in the past. The film, which is a mass commercial film will be our next release after Vishal’s Naan Sigappu Manithan and Vikram Prabhu’s Sigaram Thodu”, said G. Dhananjayan, Chief – South Business, Studios, Disney UTV.
“I am delighted to work with Shaam again in this film after working with him in my debut film Eiyarkai. Shaam is a filmmaker’s delight to work with and is highly dedicated in his work. I am sure with the two leading heroes Arya and Vijay Sethupathi, the joining of Shaam is going to strengthen the film better and make it one of the biggest films of 2014 in South Cinema. With three lead heroes in one film, we are also setting a trend for multi-starrers in Tamil films and I am delighted to be heading such a huge project. The background to the film is unique like the title of the film and will be spoken about like my previous three films” said writer-director S.P. Jhananathan.
Shaam who is delighted to be part of the film stated, ‘I am quite excited to work with S.P. Jhananathan sir after Eiyarkai and with Arya and Vijay Sethupathi, who are my good friends and colleagues. Purampokku is a powerful subject, which has very good scope for all the three heroes and hence I have accepted the role in this film. I am looking forward to shoot for the film soon.”
Disney UTV Studios
Bringing together the best of both worlds, The Walt Disney Studios and UTV Motion Pictures have formed one of the leading film studios in India. The studio’s activities span across creative development, production, marketing, distribution, licensing, merchandising and syndication of films in India and worldwide.
UTV Motion Pictures as a dominant player in the Indian film industry has been in the forefront of bringing Indian films to a global audience and the last decade in Indian cinema has seen UTV delivering some of the most iconic films including Swades, Rang De Basanti, Jodhaa Akbar, A Wednesday, Dev D, Khosla Ka Ghosla, The Namesake, Life in a Metro, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Fashion, Kaminey, No One Killed Jessica, Raajneeti, Udaan, Peepli Live, Delhi Belly, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, Paan Singh Tomar, Rowdy Rathore, Barfi!, Heroine and more recently Race 2, AnyBody Can Dance (ABCD), Kai Po Che!, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Ghanchakkar and Chennai Express.
The studio has to its credit 4 films in the last 7 years to have been selected to represent India at the Academy awards; Rang De Basanti (2006), Harishchandrachi Factory (2009), Peepli Live (2010) and Barfi! (2012). In 2011, UTV also became one of the few studios to successfully venture into South Indian cinema with Deiva Thirumagal and Muran, and has had a successful run so far with Vettai, Masala Café, Mugamoodi, Thaandavam, Settai and Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru in Tamil, and Grandmaster and Husbands in Goa in Malayalam. UTV has a library of over 80 films including Hindi, Regional, Animation and International Productions, which have been showcased in over 50 festivals across 28 countries, receiving almost 350 awards in the last 9 years.
The Walt Disney Studios has seen unprecedented box office success in India in 2012 with MARVEL’s The Avengers which was distributed and marketed in India by UTV Motion Pictures. The film emerged as the 4th highest grosser of all-time amongst Hollywood films in India. Iron Man 3 released in 2013 is by far the highest Hollywood grosser this year. Prior to this, Cars 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean 4 released in 2011 and were the biggest animation and live action titles of all time for Disney in the country. In 2010, Prince of Persia became the highest grossing western film in India that year. Earlier, Disney released its first live action Hindi feature Do Dooni Chaar in 2010 and subsequently after the success of the film, released Anaganaga-O-Dheerudu, a Telugu feature targeted at the southern audiences and second Hindi live-action film Zokkomon.
Coming up from the combined Studio is an inimitable slate with films like P.K, Shatir, Jagga Jasoos, Sholay- 3D in Hindi, Naan Sigappu Manithan and Sigaram Thodu in Tamil, Saving Mr. Banks, Maleficient in English and many more.
