Chennai 2 Singapore (2017)

Interesting facts

Chennai 2 Singapore is a 2017 Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Singaporean filmmaker Abbas Akbar in his maiden Indian feature film. Jointly produced by the Media Development Authority of Singapore along with Comicbook Films, Gate Production, Vrobal and MM2 Entertainment, as a collaboration between the Indian Tamil and Singaporean film industries, the film stars Gokul Anand, Anju Kurian, and Rajesh Balachandiran in the lead roles. In the film, a young filmmaker who leaves from Chennai to Singapore for better opportunities, loses his passport in the country and navigates with a cameraman and a girl who is suffering from cancer, leading to unexpected circumstances.

Production

Chennai 2 Singapore marked the directorial debut of Singaporean filmmaker Abbas Akbar in his maiden Indian film. He narrated the script to musician Ghibran, whom he had befriended during the latter's visit to Singapore to study music, and Ghibran agreed to be a part of the project. On the last day when he planned to leave his native country, Akbar lost his passport which led him to stay for two months in Chennai for document verification.

The project began development in 2011, when he approached Venkat Prabhu with the film's script, hoping that the director would join the film as an executive producer. However, for some reasons, Prabhu denied to be involved in the project. With no further development, Akbar secured funds from the Media Development Authority in Singapore, and also sold his house to raise funds. Ghibran also produced the film under his Comicbook Films company.

Akbar initiated talks with Dinesh to play the lead role but denied after Prabhu's disassociation from the project. Later, he narrated the script to R. Madhavan for the lead role. Though being interested, Madhavan's commitments with Irudhi Suttru (2016) refrained him from being involved in the project.

Though filming was partially completed, Akbar and Sathya had creative differences with the latter refusing to attend rehearsals. The project was scrapped and then recast with newcomers in the cast. Gokul Anand, who pursued an acting course in Singapore, was chosen to play the male lead as Ghibran, who was his senior and family friend, recommended him.

Rajesh Balachandran, a student from the National School of Drama in New Delhi, was chosen to play a supporting role. Balachandran recalled that Akbar wanted him to do something exaggerated and provided him books on animation to understand about the nuances. His performance in the film was considered to be "wacky and hyper active" reminiscent of Jim Carrey's character Ace Ventura.

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