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Southern cinema's veteran stars reunite for fun, frolic

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IANS Chennai

Southern movie superstars such as Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Daggubati Venkatesh and Nandamuri Balakrishna along with star actresses such as Khushbu Sundar and Radhika Sarath Kumar reunited for a day filled with fun and frolic.

As many as 32 popular actors of southern cinema of the 1980s got together at the beachfront property of Mohanlal Jan 18 here on East Coast Road.

"Mohanlal played host to the evening. We all had so much of fun talking, playing and reminiscing moments from the 1980s. We call ourselves the '80s club' and this is the fifth such get-together since 2009," Suhasini Maniratnam, who initiated the idea of a reunion, told IANS.

 

"It has become an annual tradition and the group has grown in size. We were about 32 actors who once were very successful in the 1980s. We also follow themes ever year. This year's party had a Hawaiian theme and all of us were dressed in Hawaiian shirts and outfits," she added.

Suhasini said the response has been phenomenal.

"When I floated the idea around, I wasn't sure how many would be interested to meet. But I was quite surprised when mostly all the actors I met where game for the idea to meet once a year," she said.

The only rule of the reunion is that the actors shouldn't bring their families.

"When we met for the first time, Rajinikanth emphasized that none of us should bring our families, not even our spouses. It was supposed to be a get together for the actors and it has to remain like that," she added.

She said that other top stars such as Kamal Haasan and Akkineni Nagarjuna have expressed interest in participating in the next reunion.

"Kamal and Nagarjuna have always wanted to join us, but they have been busy. They hope to join us next year. Some more actors have also expressed interest," said Suhasini.

Other actors at the reunion included Ramesh Arvind, Suman, Ambareesh, Jayaram, Ramya Krishnan, Revathi, Saritha, Radha, Ambika, Nadiya, Lizzy Priyadarshan, Mohan, among many more.

Actors from all the four southern film industries - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada - were present.

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First Published: Jan 20 2014 | 1:58 PM IST

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