Recently we heard that Shruti Hassan, Kamal Haasan's daughter would make her debut with Madhavan. The news is only a beginning. Kollywood is all set to see many more new faces in year 2008.
We know Prakash Raj's Duet Movies and Moserbear jointly producing 'Mayilu' based on a village subject. The movie introduces a new director, hero and heroine.
The film marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Jeevan. The hero Sri and heroine Kanmani are damn new faces.
Apart from this, a bunch of visual communication students enter the film world through this film. 'Mayilu' can even be termed as a film of debutants.
There is another film titled 'Kangalum Kavipaduthey', directed by K. Chandernath, introducing six new comers in lead roles.
We already saw Balaji Sakthivel's 'Kalloori', giving chance to a horde of newcomers.
The advent of corporate companies entering the field and the trend of making small budgeted films definitely encourage looking for new faces, as the going with established stars would mean spending more.
Last year we saw some special debutants in many departments. We had directors like Venkat Prabhu ('Chennai 600028'), Ram ('Katrathu Tamil'), Vetri Maaran ('Polladhavan'), Bharathan ('Azhagiya Tamil Magan'), Vijay ('Kireedam'), Pushkar-Gayatri couple ('Oram Po'), actor Karthi ('Paruthi Veeran'), Vinay and Tanisha ('Unnale Unnale'), Andrea ('Pachai Kili Muthucharam' ), Anjali ('Katrathu Tamil'), Aadi ('Mirugam'), music director Ramesh Vaidya ('Vegam'), and cinematographer R Velraj ('Polladhavan'). The list is obviously not a complete one.
It is not that all the newcomers make an impact. The debutants of Shakthi and Aswin Sekhar (sons of P. Vasu and S.V. Sekhar respectively), for example fail to make a mark.
One great thing with the newcomers is that they give directors more freedom. They don't need to cook any scenes to suit the established images of the stars. Imagine the climax of 'Paruthi Veeran'. If it were an established actor, the director would have been tempted to have a different climax. It also encourages the filmmakers to try and experiment many things.
Marketing unfamiliar faces is always going to be tough but the risk involved is less, as the movies with new faces are invariably low budgeted movies. Moreover, with companies like Pyramid Saimira coming forward to back up such projects, things are sure to become easier for the ventures with new comers.