“National Awards was a totally
different experience”
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How
do you feel about the awards Pasanga has brought
you?
Obviously,
I feel extremely happy with Pasanga’s
awards. Of all, National Awards was a totally
different experience. We went there a day
in advance for rehearsals and had the opportunity
to meet veterans like Amitabh. I also realized
how the National Awards are being hugely respected
by folks from Bollywood, Bengali and Malayalam
cinema. |
Remake movies or inspired movies; which ones do you
think is difficult to make?
That can only be said after I did such movies. But
in general, movie making is a difficult task as such.
In movies that are inspired from other sources, you
need to tune it to fit the local taste. But be it
remake, inspired or dubbed movies; nothing is an easy
task to achieve.
What do you have
to say about Tamil movies inspired by Hollywood films?
Well, I think it depends on people who direct / produce
such movies.
How significant
are Tamil movies in the pan-Indian scene?
Tamil films have a greater responsibility in the pan-Indian
scene now. It’s now possible to make experimental
movies in Tamil when compared to other languages.
Tell
us something about Easan
I
want to tell my fans not to have Subramaniapuram
in mind or expect too much from the movie.
I insist not to refer Subramaniapuram in any
of my movie promos because I want people to
undo that effect while they come in to watch
my other movies. Subramaniapuram is of a different
genre from Easan. Please think of this as
my first movie. Is Easan a different movie
or does it have a very different storyline?
I would say, no. Even if that’s the
case, I am confident that I will make you
forget Subramaniapuram in the first few scenes
of Easan. Easan is a very simple movie and
all that we have done is to try and present
it in a different manner. |
“Please think Easan as my first
movie”
|
Easan audio release
had many renowned Indian directors. Is there a special
reason behind that?
I had an opportunity to meet directors of many regional
languages after Subramaniapuram was released. That
is when I realized how much talents from Tamil are
respected. This is my way of paying them back. I had
watched and loved their movies and wanted to show
my Tamil fans that these are the people who love Tamil
and its movies. All those who attended are my friends.
I wanted all the Indian language directors to be united
in the name of cinema despite the language barriers.
For instance, Anurag Kashyap and I became friends
because of our movies. I watched Dev D and fell in
love with it and he watched Subramaniapuram and liked
it. Same way I connected with Ranjith, Yogiraj Bhat
and many other directors. This is my way of paying
back the respect I have for them.
Most importantly, I wanted Ameer and Bala to be part
of that event. They were busy in their schedules.
However, I insisted on their presence since I brought
along directors of four languages on the stage and
I wanted my Gurus, teachers to be present as well.
I am immensely honored with their attendance. It was
like winning an award for me.
Tell us how you
got Malayalam director Blessy to act
He is one of my favorite directors in Malayalam and
also my friend. I loved his movies like Kazhcha and
Tanmathra. When I invited him to act, he flatly refused
saying it is not a practice in the Malayalam industry
for directors to act. But I convinced him to do the
role. He has done a commendable job of it. He had
his own apprehensions whether people would accept
it. I made a pact with him. I told him to take credit
if people thought (after the release of the movie)
he had done a good job, if not I would take the blame.
He entrusted himself in me as an actor and has given
an excellent performance. You would know it when the
movie releases.
Who is the dancer
in Jilla Vittu Jilla song?
Nobody has so far asked me that question. It’s
really surprising that you should bring it up. Dinesh
Master and I had a tough time deciding upon a dancer
for the song. It was sung by a new singer Thanjai
Selvi for Mohanraj’s lyrics. After screening
a few people, Dinesh suggested that I see Sujatha,
who is also a dance master. After meeting her we decided
she would suit Selvi’s voice. And then a trivia
tumbled out. She is the dancer who is featured in
Thalapathi’s ‘Kaattu Kuyile’ song;
the silhouetted one who would be hopping in a pony
tail in the song. Anybody who is familiar with the
song will know the girl. I register my thanks at this
juncture for Sujatha who did a great job in the Jilla
Vittu Jilla song.
Bala and Ameer also liked the way the song is choreographed
and edited cuts based on the mood. They felt the song
has a story in itself. The song Inda Iravudaan Pogude
will have fast cuts. Editor Ramesh has done a beautiful
job of the songs and the specialty is that the editing
pattern of the songs would suit the mood of the movie.
About lyricist
Mohanraj
Jilla Vittu Jilla was the first song to be finalized
for Easan. We listened to it when we were on a flight
to Hyderabad. This song was already recorded by James
Vasanthan and was turned down by a producer. However,
I fell in love with that song and told James that
I would take it. Strangely the situation in my script
was similar to the song’s mood and when I showed
James the script, we knew this song was going to be
the one. That is the story of Jilla Vittu Jilla song.
Na. Muthukumar
Na. Muthukumar has done three songs. I had plans for
only one song for him, which is Get Ready for Action.
So we were driving down to James’ recording
studio and Muthukumar wanted to listen to the track.
After listening to the tune and getting details about
the situation, he started writing the song and finished
it before even reaching James’ place. And the
song was perfect too. As a result, we were rendered
jobless after reaching James’ studio since the
purpose of the visit was fulfilled in the drive itself.
That is when I suggested that Muthu should write the
Inda Iravudaan Pogude song as well. That is an excellent
club song and sung by Sukwinder Singh and Benny Dayal.
And he also wrote another song called ‘Kannil
Anbai Solluthe’.
“I have never met Sridevi”
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We
heard you had dinner with Sridevi. How much
of it is true?
I
have no idea how this news spread out. I had
never met Sridevi. Only seen her in movies.
I was hunting for shooting locations in Karaikkudi
and heard this news from one of my friends
who phoned me up to find out about it. |
Tell us about
your next movie
My next movie is directed by Samuthrakani and I play
the lead. The movie goes on floors in January.
We hear the next
movie is the story of a Srilankan refugee
No. That is not true. I don’t know where these
stories crop up from. Same way, people have named
my first movie Nagaram. I was surprised to see that
news. All I said was the movie was about life in the
city. Just that I said it in Tamil and the word city
became Nagaram and people interpreted it as the title
of my next movie.
How important
are Assistant Directors for a movie?
They are very important to a movie in my opinion.
They are there for us to get every simple task fulfilled
from the start to the end of the movie’s production.
They assist the director and that is why they are
called assistants. For instance, my co-director Prabhu
who worked with me in Subramaniapuram got an opportunity
to direct another movie. But there was a little gap
for his venture to be kicked off and I asked him to
work for me for Eesan. He did. So the understanding
between a director and his assistant goes a long way.
That is very important for a movie.
Is
Easan inspired from a true story?
No.
It is not. People get that idea after watching
the scenes of a young girl being chased by
a gang. They say it resembles an incident
happened five years ago. But I think it happens
all the time in real life. We encountered
one such incident during the shooting. We
were shooting a scene with a girl in a moped
on the road and suddenly, from nowhere five
guys came in motorbikes and started following
the girl. I had to stop the car in which we
had our cameras and confront the guys. They
apologized saying they did not know about
the shooting. I asked them whether they would
do the same thing if it was not the shooting.
They had no answer. So these things happen
on a day to day basis. |
“Easan is not inspired from a true
story”
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