Vikram Gokhale starrer Sur Lagu De marks Marathi debut of Meghna Naidu

Teaser launch of the Marathi language film Sur Lagu De on 12 December witnessed a few tears and many moist eyes, as everyone lamented the loss of the central character in the film, Vikram Gokhale, who passed away recently, after completing this film. Although he was seriously ill, he gave as many as 14 hours a day to the shooting of Sur Lagu De, to help complete the movie that was started pre-Covid. In the film, he is paired with veteran Suhasini Mulay. Sur Lagu De is an Oddball Motion Pictures production, directed by Pravin Vijaya Eknath Birje, and co-stars Reena Madhukar and Meghna Naidu. It marks Meghna’s Marathi debut. The film is distributed by Sameer Dixit and Rishikesh Bhirangi of Pickle Entertainment, and will be released in January 2023.

Suhasini, a National award winning actress and daughter of well-known media personality, late Vijaya Mulay, spoke to the gathering at Famous Studios, Mahalaxmi’s mini-theatre via a video link, paying rich tributes to Gokhale, recalling that he called her one day and said that he does not want to go away leaving any of his films incomplete. Birje recalled that he had known Vikram’s father, Chandrakant, himself a reputed theatre actor, and had always wanted to cast Vikram in a film. This did happen in a Hindi film, wherein he was the associate director. However, this is the first time the two have worked together in a film where Birje is full-fledged director. Gokhale’s death, he expressed, has caused an irreplaceable loss to the entertainment world. A minute’s silence was observed before the proceedings began, as a mark of respect to the late Vikram Gokhale.  

The two leading ladies, the director, and the several producers of the film were present on the occasion. Both Reena Madhukar and Meghna Naidu said they learnt so much from Vikram Gokhale, especially dedication and commitment. Sur Lagu De is all set to be seen as a rich tribute to Vikram Gokhale. Meghna mentioned that Reena would write her dialogue and hold it near the camera to help facilitate dialogue delivery, since her Marathi was not very good. Sometimes, she would alter a word or two, to make is easier for her. For this, she remains greatly indebted to Reena. Incidentally, the film raises the slogan for women empowerment.

Ashish Deo has penned the storyline of the film, which is about family relationships, Pankaj Padghan has scored the music and Baba Chavan has written the lyrics. There are three songs in the film. Producers Abhishek ‘King’ Kumar and Nitin Upadhyaya, from Oddball, lead the production team, with a host of co-producers, associate producers and executive producers, some of who were present.

For those with a short memory or those who were not around or were very young 20 years ago, Meghna Naidu is the girl in the super-duper hot music video, ‘Kaliyon ka chaman’, which bombed the video scene exactly 20 years ago, in 2002. This was her first major appearance, and the video, produced by UMI10 and directed by Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru, was an official remix of Lata Mangeshkar's 1981 song ‘Kaliyon ka chaman jab khilta hai, thoda resham lagta hai’. It is actually a film song from Jyoti (1981), written by Anand Bakshi and tuned by Bappi Lahiri. The 2002 English song ‘Addictive’, by Truth Hurts, was inspired and sampled by the remix.

Meghna was born in Vijaywada in 1980 to working parents. The family migrated to Mumbai when she was very young. Her father, who worked for Air India, was a tennis coach. Meghna’s film debut was in a Telugu film. After two Telugu films and two Kannada films, she got the ‘Kaliyon ka chaman’ offer. A tennis coach herself, she met tennis player Luis Miguel Reis, started a relationship with him in 2011 and married him in 2016. Since then he has turned a coach and runs a tennis academy. In the Hindustani film industry, she made her debut in 2004, with Hawas (2004). 16 cameos/Special Appearances later, she was seen in Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 (2019). She resides in Dubai with her husband and travels to India, where her parents live, for work. Although she has worked in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam films, Sur Lagu De is her Marathi language debut.

Speaking to this writer, Meghna talked about the following things:

“I met my husband through my Dad, who is a tennis coach. In this film, I play a strong-headed, go-getter journalist. But this apparently cold journalist has a soft heart and a family as well. It is a complex job that she does.  Although I moved to Dubai twelve years ago, I kept working in Indian films till Covid. This is my return, after Covid. In the film, I only speak Marathi, though my mother tongue is Telugu. I have done television, and films in many languages, but have yet to do anything on OTT. If a good OTT offer comes along, I will lap it up. Most of my scenes are with Vikram Sir, Suhasini Ma’am and Reena. This was my first film with Vikram Sir, and I am proud that I got to work with him. I was stressed out, and he would make me very comfortable, by showing me ways of rendering my dialogue and alternatives, when it was two difficult. Suhasini Ma’am was inspiring, and inspired me to live each day to the fullest. My only regret in the film..., I'm saying this in a lighter vein...I don't have any of the songs picturised on me. When I grow old, I would like to be like her. Among my fans, I am identified with ‘Kaliyon ka chaman’, and I will still be identified with this video, and even when I am 70 I will be identified as the ‘Kaliyon ka chaman' Aunty.”