What?! A movie involving Mani Ratnam, Vijay, Harris Jayaraj, Jyothika, K.V. Anand, Madhavan and Surya? Is that possible? It’s not only possible – the film is even ready to be released! Also involved are Kamal Hassan, Aamir Khan, Simran, and Prakash Raj.

It’s called Hero Va Zero Va, and it’s a documentary produced by the Agaram Foundation which is managed by Sivakumar, Surya and Jyothika. The film looks at the issue of child labour and children dropping out of school. Based on a report/document researched and prepared by the Agaram Foundation (with CM Karunanidhi and Education Minister Thangam Thenarasu motivating them), the film shows Surya, Madhavan, Jyothika and Vijay each taking a child to school. Each of these children had to overcome various hurdles (ignorance of parents, lack of motivation, the prejudice of educating the girl child, etc) and they do so with these four stars motivating them to get an education.

In a function today, Surya screened the film and spoke a little more about it. A promotional video for the documentary that had been shot earlier involved Kamal, Aamir, Simran, Vijay and Prakash Raj speaking. The day Aamir was to do his bit in the video, he had that accident and the production team was messaging him to say they would shoot it later, but Aamir was already messaging them to say he had already shot himself speaking for the promo video and was sending it on Beta to them. Surya thanked Vijay profusely for giving his time. Vijay as a rule, noted Surya, never goes out on Sundays, especially after 4 pm. Surya had asked him for one Sunday morning, but the shoot involved two Sundays, and it went beyond six p.m. But, said Surya, Vijay never made a fuss. All the other celebrities, added Surya, had been generous with their time also.

The film is directed by V. Priya, photographed by K.V. Anand, with music by Harris Jayaraj. Mani Ratnam helped Roshini and Thomas with the story. Director Priya said she was thrilled to be working with so many film luminaries, and directing four stars at the same time!