Mersal Audio Launch: AR Rahman, Vijay Stand up for Women

Listen to AR Rahman and Vijay wax eloquent on feminism and more at the Mersal Audio Launch.

Mersal is Atlee’s third film as director, and his second with Ilayathalapathy Vijay. On 20th August, in what is by far the biggest event of 2017, AR Rahman launched the audio for the movie, and also orchestrated a song from the movie.

Incidentally, Mersal is the silver jubilee film for both Vijay and AR Rahman. Both began their careers in 1992; Vijay as the hero with Naalaya Theerpu, and Rahman with Mani Ratnam’s Roja.

Produced by Fox Star, Mersal’s audio launch was a slickly produced four-hour event that matched the grandeur of some of Rajinikanth’s promotional events for his films (Kabali’s launch event, Robot 2.0’s pre-launch).

‘Ella Pugazhum Iraivanukke’ - All Praise be to God

AR Rahman spoke for all of two minutes, making this one of his longest speeches till date. He spoke of how he feels younger in the presence of his ‘new fans’ and how this was his second generation of fans.

What struck a chord though was when he mentioned the phrase ‘Aalapporan Tamizhan’ (Tamizhan will rule), claiming this was his aspiration which the youth of today needs to turn into a reality. He signed off saying youngsters must be more loving and respectful towards women, and ended with his trademark “Ella Pugazhum Iraivanukke” (All praise be to God).

‘Ignore Negativity - Mind your business’ - Actor Vijay

Vijay was surprisingly candid and comfortable on stage. Since his Jallikattu video tweet, the actor has refrained from facing the camera off-screen.

Recently, some of his fans trolled TNM’s journalist Dhanya Rajendran. It was in response to this that Vijay spoke to his fans, asking them to ignore negativity.

Watch this space for Mersal’s audio review, and a jukebox of the songs. I bet you’ll end up liking one or the other.

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