Founded in 1946 by AV Meiyappan, AVM productions, is among India’s oldest and most iconic production houses having made over 3000 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. The Chennai-headquartered company, now being helmed by the great grandchildren of that doyen AV Meiyappan Chettiar, had kept itself away from active production for the better part of the last decade. Its last outing was a short film, which was also selectively released online, named Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum in 2014.
Now this hoary production house --- probably the oldest active film company in India now --- is set to test the OTT space. Its slyly named web series Tamil Rockerz is all set to stream on SonyLiv shortly..
But why slyly named? Because Tamil Rockerz is the name of a piracy group that has been a big challenge to the Tamil film industry. Tamil Rockerz represents the most modern of threats to the film industry. And it is being taken on by the oldest film house. Nice, nah?
A series on the fight against cyber pirates
The most awaited teaser of our first web-series #Tamilrockerz, a @SonyLIV Tamil Original, starring @arunvijayno1 directed by @arivazhagan is now here for youStreaming soon on SonyLIV.@vanibhojanoffl @ishmenon @DopRajasekarB @EditorSabu @arunaguhan_ pic.twitter.com/hgmPzt0jKCJuly 3, 2022
Aruna Guhan, one of the twin sisters from the eponymous AVM family, has been busy promoting the film on the social media platforms (the other is Aparna Guhan Shyam) and she shared the teaser of the web series Tamil Rockerz that stars Arun Vijay, Iswarya Menon and Vani Bhojan in the leads. The series will also feature the likes of Azhagam Perumal, Vinodhini Vaidyanathan and MS Bhaskar in pivotal roles. Billed as a crime thriller about the grim reality of piracy in the Tamil film industry, the series is helmed by Arivazhagan, who had directed thrillers like Eeram and Kuttram 23. For the record, the series was earlier titled Tamil Stalkers.
"Tamil Rockerz deep dives into the dark side of the piracy world and unravels the industry's constant battle against identifying the group that is involved in releasing pirated content. The show follows the journey of Rudra, a cop, who must fight against time, unruly fans, and an anonymous network of cyber pirates to secure a massively budgeted and highly anticipated movie, from the notorious piracy group," the production house said.
Producer Aruna Guhan said: "Tamil Rockerz is a very special show as it marks the foray of AVM Productions into OTT as well as being a story so close to our industry. Aparna and I were keen to show how piracy affects the entertainment industry and keep it rooted and content driven. Working with Director Arivazhagan, we have been able to tell the story visually with deeper context and immense skill. We are extremely thrilled to have Arun Vijay to elevate the series."
The specific date from which the web series will be available is not known yet. The series, made in Tamil, will also be available in languages like Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi.
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