Masss

WATCH TRAILER AT : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uhmhTwPPTg

Masss is an upcoming Tamil horror comedy^[2] film directed by Venkat Prabhu. Suriya, who also co-produces the film along withStudio Green, plays the lead role alongside Nayantara and Pranitha. Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the music for the film and cinematography was done by R. D. Rajasekhar.^[3]

The film is scheduled for a worldwide release on 15 May 2015.

Production

Development

In early December 2013, Sify reported that Venkat Prabhu's next film after Biriyani (2013) would feature Suriya as the male lead and would also be produced by the actor himself under his newly launched company 2D Entertainment.^[4] Three days later the project was confirmed by the director, who however clarified that Studio Green would co-produce it along with 2D Entertainment.^[4]Reports then indicated that Suriya would be playing a dual role in the film.^[5] Subsequently, lyricist Madhan Karky was signed to write the dialogues for the film.^[3] As with Prabhu's earlier films, composer Yuvan Shankar Raja^[6] and editor Praveen K. L. were added to the technical crew, while R. D. Rajasekhar was signed as the cinematographer, replacing Prabhu's usual cinematographerSakthi Saravanan.^[7] The film is touted to be the first Tamil film to be shot in 3D from the beginning.^[8] It was reported to be a horror comedy,^[9][10][11] while Venkat Prabhu stated that he was "trying something new" and that he couldn't reveal the genre.^[12] It was reported that the film would have Suriya in two different looks, one of which, is with him sporting long hair and the other look was said to be a secret surprise.^[13][14]

Casting

Nayantara was signed to play one of the female leads along with Amy Jackson,^[15] while the director's brother Premgi Amaren was given a significant supporting role as in all of Prabhu's films.^[16] Mohan was reported to be playing the villain,^[17] but the director confirmed that Mohan was not approached for any role in the film.^[18] Actor-director R. Parthiepan informed that he had "a special character to essay in Masss, a very significant one".^[19] Jayaram, who had worked with Venkat Prabhu in Saroja (2008), was added to the cast and reported to be playing a prominent role.^[20] Actors Sriman,^[21] Karunas and Daniel Annie Pope of Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara (2013) fame were reported to be playing the roles of spirits in the film.^[22] On 10 August 2014, actress Vidyullekha Raman informed that she would be a part of the project.^[23] The next day, actor-directorSamuthirakani was confirmed to be part of the project.^[24] Sanjay Bharathi was given a supporting role and participated in the Hyderabad schedule.^[25] In November 2014, Amy Jackson opted out of the project,^[26] explaining that the makers had changed her character and the script, which would have resulted in her shooting only for half the number of days than she was initially committed to.^[27] She was replaced by Pranitha Subhash who joined the film's cast later the month.^[28] Prinz, who had played the villain in films likeNaan Sigappu Manithan and Naaigal Jaakirathai, informed that he played one of the villains in Masss, adding that he would appear for a short duration but share screen space with Suriya.^[29]

Filming

The film was officially launched with a puja on 14 April 2014.^[30] The film was rumored to be titled as Poochandi,^[31] however Venkat Prabhu announced on 5 July 2014 via Twitterand Facebook that it had been titled Masss.^[32] Principal photography was reported to start from 11 July 2014,^[33] but commenced three days earlier in Chennai.^[34] The first schedule was shot in a house on the ECR stretch for 15 days.^[22][35] The crew with Suriya and Nayantara shot some scenes at a hospital in Chennai.^[13] The first and second schedules of the film were completed by early September 2014.^[36] The team reportedly continued filming in Ooty, Kerala and Kullu Manali in the north.^[37] 40% of the filming was completed by the end of September 2014.^[38] In November 2014, the first song was filmed, which was choreographed by Ajay Raaj.^[39] By early December, the team shot crucial portions including a duet song sequence involving Suriya and Pranitha in Bulgaria.^[40][41] Following the schedule in Bulgaria, filming continued in Puducherry by January 2015.^[42]The film was initially reported to be shot in 3D, but on 18 February 2015, Venkat Prabhu in his official Twitter handle wrote that, it was not true, which was later confirmed by official press release.^[43]

Music

Yuvan Shankar Raja began working on the film's music in August 2014 and stated that the soundtrack would be "completely wacky", going on to add that "the sounds that I’ve played with...will take the audience by surprise".^[44] In November 2014, Tanvi Shah recorded a song for the soundtrack.^[45] At the Ritz Icon Awards later that month, the composer told that he was working on a special song that would be a tribute to Michael Jackson and be on the lines of Jackson's Thriller.^[46][47] In March 2015, Sify reported that Yuvan Shankar Raja was no longer part of the project and that he had been replaced by S. Thaman who was said to compose the score and have remixed a song from the Hindi filmR... Rajkumar for the soundtrack as well.^[48] Venkat Prabhu denied the news within hours,^[49][50] and Yuvan Shankar Raja later clarified that, due to time constraints, he composed only a tune and gave it to Thaman to worked on the orchestration part, since the team needed to finish the shoot quickly.^[51]

Release

The worldwide distribution rights of Masss were sold to Eros International for an undisclosed price.^[52] Dream Factory was confirmed to distribute the film in Tamil Nadu.^[53]Sopnam Films bought the Kerala distribution rights for Masss as well as two other Studio Green productions, Komban and Darling, for an undisclosed price.^[54] The rights to Karnataka region were sold to distributor Srikanth.^[55]

The first poster of Masss was released on 22 October 2014, coinciding with the Deepavali festival.^[56] The official teaser was released on 25 April 2015 after midnight, and garnered 1 million views within two days.