It's an all-out war for Mohanlal's fans. Malayali maverick actor Mohanlal who agreed to do just a cameo in Priyadarshan's Tezz, didn't know what he was getting himself-and the film's makers-into.
Now when the film is all set for release, there is all-round apprehension that Mohanlal's staunch fan-following would take umbrage to their icon's abbreviated part.
Signs of swelling dissent are already evident. The first promotional trailer of Tezz where Ajay Devgn and Anil Kapoor are highlighted while Mohanlal is a fleeting blur, has evoked very strong voices of protest all over the micro-blogging sites, creating a mild panic situation in the production team.
Says a source close to the project, "We never expected this kind of an uproar, Mohanlal has a cameo in Tezz. And that's how he was shown in the first promo, in fleeting shots. But the uproar from his fans in the South on Facebook and Twitter has taken the producers by surprise. New trailers are now being planned where Mohanlal will be as prominent as Ajay."
Incidentally, this is not the first time Devgn has been compelled to share poster space with Mohanlal. In Ram Gopal Varma's Company, the same North-South divide had transpired.
Tezz producer Ratan Jain admits to being taken aback by the uproar, "Frankly we didn't expect this. We didn't mean to undermine Mohanlalji's stature at all. He sportingly agreed to play a cameo part because of his proximity to Priyadarshan. The heroes of our film are Ajay Devgn and Anil Kapoor. But if Mohanlalji's fans are upset we've to do something about it. We're taking care of the situation. The next promo will feature Mohanlalji prominently."
An interesting sidelight to the Mohanlal-Devgn poster war is that Tezz was meant to be pitched as Devgn's next action film after Singham.
But now with the Mohanlal angle demanding attention in the promotional footage it would be difficult to highlight the action aspect in the plot.
Says Jain, "We're looking into it. We need to be fair to all our actors."
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