Director Cheran created history with his last film, the almost autobiographical Autograph. But interestingly, no hero was willing to act in it after his disasterous Solla Marantha Katha. This is why Cheran himself starred.
The story depicts the three stages in a man's life (it has shades of Raj Kapoor's Mera Naam Joker), and the three women who influence him. Of the three heroines, it was not the established Sneha who became a rage, but an unknown girl from Kerala called Gopika. After Autograph, she has become one of the top actresses in Tamil cinema.
Autograph won last year's National award for the most entertaining film of the year, along with Yash Chopra's Veer-Zaara.
Now, after a year, Cheran is ready with his next, again autobiographical. This time, it involves his relationship with his father. It was first called Touring Talkies but, with political parties interfering with the titles of Tamil movies, the title has been changed to Thavamai Thavamirunthu.
Once again, Cheran is the hero. Raj Kiran acts as his father and Saranya, his mother. Kiran played Cheran's brother in his earlier film, Pandavar Bhoomi. The heroine is Bangalore-based Padmapriya, who shot to fame with Blessy's Kaazhcha as Mammootty's wife.
The film is produced by SK Krishnakanth of Indian Theatre Productions, which has made successful films like the Dhanush starrer Thiruda Thirudi and Silambarasan's Manmadhan.
