Gautham Menon turns 40

It started with the romantic musical Minnale with Madhavan, Reema Sen, Abbas and Vivek leading the cast, and Harris Jayaraj’s tunes luring the masses. This soothing melody was followed by a pumped-up action-packed Kaakha Kaakha – the trend setting cop film that proved to be Suriya’s biggest break! Again Harris headed the music department and we got some soulful music to savour!

Several hurdles later, he enthralled audiences with the action thriller Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu with Kamal Haasan playing an investigating officer who hunts down a pair of serial killers. Everything about the movie struck gold, especially the beautiful compositions by Harris! His next hit was Pachaikili Muthucharam with an interesting lineup off stars, an equally interesting story line and Harris’ hit melodies! Then came the melodious Varanam Aayiram with Suriya, Divya Spandana and Sameera.

Having built up a formidable reputation with such classic and path-breaking films, Gautham then teamed up with the Mozart of Madras A.R. Rahman for Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, a romantic musical starring Simbu and Trisha in the lead roles. Yemaya Chesave, the Telugu version of VTV, created wonders at the box office. His latest venture is Neethaane En Ponvasantham.

For hardcore action buffs and film lovers, director Gautham Menon's genre of films belongs to an exciting and unexplored stratum of Tamil cinema.

Happy Birthday, Gautham Menon!