Arnold missed veshti; liked idli, dosai and pongal

 Arnold Schwarzenegger who was in the city for the audio launch of Shankar's I -which has Vikram, Amy Jackson in the lead and songs composed by AR Rahman -ensured that he didn't miss out on the taste of Chennai too. We hear that during his stay at a star hotel here, the Hollywood superstar had idli, dosai and pongal for breakfast -after which he worked out for six hours at the gym! He was also so fascinated by the south Indian culture that he wanted to wear a veshti during his meeting with the Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Sources say that arrangements were also made according to Arnold's wish. However, since he had to rush to make it in time for the appointment to meet the CM, he gave wearing the veshti a miss.

When we contacted the producer of I, Aascar Ravichandran, he confirmed the news saying, "Yes, Arnold liked idli, dosai and pongal a lot. When continental cuisines were provided to him, he insisted on having only our traditional breakfast. He also wanted to meet CM in veshti, but due to time constraints, he couldn't wear it."

Ask him about Arnold's epic six hour workout schedule and Aascar says, "He landed at 3.30 am, had breakfast at 5.30 am and then he headed to gym for the workout. He worked out for six hours. Our team was actually stunned by his dedication to his fitness regime."

Goof-ups at 'I' audio launch

While the audio launch of director Shankar's magnum opus 'I' was a grand event, there were quite a few goof-ups during the show. First, the launch was scheduled to start at 6 pm, but the stars turned up late pushing the kick off to close to 8 pm. While the guest and audience were in the arena by 5.30, the crowd were getting a bit restless. But they were all on their toes once the launch started and were stunned by every aspect of the film.

The show hosts singer Chinmayi and actor Bobby Simha couldn't keep the crowd engaged either. Though both are stars in their own profession, their hosting talent was in question. While Chinmayi welcomed Telugu star Rana Daggubati, who wasn't present at the event, Bobby's was left speechless on quite a few occasions.

Actor Rana Daggubati had earlier in the day said on his social networking page that he wouldn't be able to attend the grand audio launch of filmmaker Shankar's Tamil magnum opus I. "Won't be able to make it to the 'I' audio launch this evening because of shoot. Will be missing a huge event. Missing a chance to see the legends on stage @Schwarzenegger and @superstarrajini," Rana posted on Twitter Monday.

Actor Vikram too thanked Rana Daggubati for coming to the audio launch even though he didn't. A mistake on Vikram's part is understandable, considering the fact that he isn't on social networking site and also because he was putting on his make-up for the beast character he was performing at the audio launch. But Chinmayi, who is active on social network sites, should have known or at least should have kept to welcoming the stars by actually spotting them.

Chinmayi's co host Bobby Simha was take aback when a person from the audience said on mic that he wanted to take a picture with Arnold when asked to sing in a high pitch.

Arnold was an inspiration for Vikram's character

At the glitzy audio launch of I, which had Arnold Schwarzenegger as the special guest, director Shankar finally opened up a bit about the film. Talking about the film, Shankar said, "This film is not like the Wolfman or Hulk. It is not about the Olympics or on sports as some people have written. It is not a sci-fi or a film with a social message or a fun film. It is an entirely a new genre for me — romantic thriller. The character that Vikram plays in the film is called Lingeswaran. Since Vikram is playing a bodybuilder, Arnold was an inspiration. We have even given the character a curl like the one that Arnold had during his bodybuilder days."

Almost 25 per cent of the film has been shot in China, he revealed. "The conditions there were extreme but we managed to shoot a song and some stunt sequences there. Action choreographer Peter Ming got actual cycling champions in China for a cycle fight scene that we shot there."

Vikram, who had to lose over 25kg to play the hunchback character in the film, remarked that fasting for a role is not a bother, if the role is interesting enough. The actor added that everyone around him started feeling a little awkward when he was losing weight. "They started asking me why I was even trying out such drastic things. So, I avoided going out to any event. I did not even meet my fans during this time and I thank them for standing by me," he said.