Prabhu Solomon

Prabhu Solomon hails from Neyveli, Tamil Nadu and revealed he was a regular at the town's only cinema hall, which helped him develop an initial passion for films. He did his schooling in St. Paul's Matriculation Higher Secondary School, after which he completed a master's degree in English literature, before relocating to Chennai. His career in the film industry started in 1991 and for three years, he looked for opportunities to become in involved in ongoing film projects.[2] He first worked as a stunt double for Sarathkumar in Namma Annachi (1994), where he also met director Sundar C, who was working as the associate director of the film. He consequently joined Sundar’s film Murai Maman (1995) as an assistant director, before subsequently working with Agathiyan on the award-winning Kadhal Kottai (1996).[2]

Anbalaya Films offered him an opportunity to direct a film for their production house, after he had helped them complete the post-production works for Murai Mappillai (1995) when director Sundar C walked out. Prabhu Solomon chose to feature Raghuvaran and Bhanupriya in the leading roles, though the producers Anabalaya Films were reluctant to cast a character artiste in the lead role for the film, Kannodu Kanbathellam (1999). Prabhu revealed he met Arjun in Thenkasi during the making of Mudhalvan (1999), at the insistence of his producer and actively tried to make a poor impression. Arjun, nonetheless, was keen and worked on the film.[2] Co-starring Sonali Bendre and Suchindra, the film was released to positive reviews. A romantic thriller featuring Arjun in a different role to his usual action ventures, the film however did well at the box office and became a Super-Hit at the box office. Similarly his second venture, the Kannada film Usire (2001), a remake of Cheran's Bharathi Kannamma, did not perform as expected commercially.[2] Prabhu Solomon had wanted Shiva Rajkumar to play the lead role, and he lamented that miscasting Ravichandran in the leading role instead, worked against the viability of the film. Prabhu Solomon had signed on Vikram to play the lead role in a project shortly after the success of Sethu (1999) and wanted to work on a different script, but the actor insisted that the pair a film from the director's script titled King (2002). Solomon revealed that he was unconvinced about Vikram portraying the lead role, feeling that he was too old to play Nassar's son, but the actor insisted the project went ahead. Delays in the production in the film, meant that Vikram's star image had risen and reviewers labelled the film as a disappointment upon release. The director noted that the story was written with the expectation of a small-time actor in the lead role, and hence Vikram's sudden popularity worked against his film. He revealed that his early career in film involved making significant compromises and was strictly against the type of cinema he had actually ventured to make.[2]

It was during "Mynaa" that Prabhu Solomon Met his first break through, A romance flick set at the back drop of kurangani Theni district Tamil Nadu. He had sculptured the screenplay and characterizations very much close to reality with a strong ethnic touch. Mynaa opened for major critically and commercially successful venture in box office.[3]

Post "Mynaa" Prabhu solomon signed his next film "Kumki" to director N. Linguswamy, which also marks a debut of Vikram Prabhu son of actor Prabhu and Grand son of Actor Sivaji Ganesan. Like his previous venture "Kumki" is also a huge success in box office. D. Imman's Music and Sugumaran's cinematography plays major contribution for the film's success.

Following the success of Kumki, Prabhu Solomon took a break and went on a recce to the coastal South Indian town of Nagapattinam to get inspired for a story set on the backdrop of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. He gathered real-life stories of survival and intertwined them into his script.[4] Subsequently, he launched his next production Kayal with newcomers Chandran and Anandhi in the title roles, and shot for the film for a year. Scenes were shot for several days underwater, with the team often doing up to ten hours a day in knee-length depths of water.[4] The film completed shoot after 85 days in May 2014, with the director announcing that post-production would be extensive as a result of impending VFX works.[5][6] During the music release of the film in November 2014, Prabhu Solomon revealed more details about the production of the film, noting that the climax was shot first to ensure graphic works depicting the tsunami could have as much time spent on it as possible. He went on to add that it was his costliest production till date and the film was made at a cost of ₹15 crore, with the special effects, notably the use of 7.1 Atmos mix for the climax, being particularly expensive.[7][8]

Following the disappointing response to Thodari, Prabhu Solomon chose to continue scripting the sequel to Kumki and registered the title Yaanai for a production for Eros International.[9]