"I'VE MADE A ZOMBIE FILM THAT I WANTED TO WATCH"
Interview Team : Venkat; Kavya sathyamoorthy; Arjun; JyothsnaCinema is the most beautiful art in the world that does the 'make believe' job a piece of cake and the maker of one such upcoming beyond belief film, the director of the first ever zombie thriller in the Tamil cinema industry, Shakti Soundar Rajan, enlightens us about his third venture Miruthan...
Pressures on making a first of its kind film...
Being the first is not important, it's the content. My previous flick Naaigal Jaakirathai was also a first of its kind film where a dog is nearly portrayed as a second protagonist but we didn't want to promote it that way because such promotions will only make an audience glance twice at the poster. But it’s the content that gets them to watch a film. That's the only pressure.
Your previous films have been money based, animal based and now its zombie based. Don't you believe in a hero based subject?
Doing difference for the sake of difference is not good enough. Everyone in the film business knows how important a hero is. On top of that, if a good content meets a good hero, then the probability of a good result will be higher. It's not too difficult because many top heroes today are ready to explore. Take Rajinikanth, his Enthiran and 2.0 are sci-fi films. Even such a commercial superstar is ready to explore.
Doing difference for the sake of difference is not good enough.
What ignited the idea?
I had the idea as a line before I met Jayam Ravi, but it developed into a screenplay only after he was on board. This is not a film that can compromise on a hero by moving from one hero to another. Miruthan wouldn't have happened if the hero was a new face.
Miruthan wouldn't have happened if the hero was a new face.
Having a combo of localized and globalized concepts in a film can either end in extreme creativity or in an extreme disaster. How did you manage to not make it a disaster?
I always try to make films that I want to see. I didn't compromise anywhere in the film for the sake of localizing it which's why there are only 3 songs in the film and why Ravi hasn't danced in them. I've been true to the content and made a zombie film that I wanted to watch. It's not a masala film.
It's not a masala film.
"A good artist copies, but a great artist steals." Which kind are you?
There are talks that Miruthan might have copied elements from other languages. There are already 400-500 zombie films. The common thread in all of those is the spread of a virus and its aftereffects, but what makes each film unique is the story surrounding that phenomenon. It's not copying or stealing. The common element is what a genre is about.
There are talks that Miruthan might have copied elements from other languages.
Was it easy to convince people with your script?
I've been in the industry for ten years and it has taken three films for me to convince people. You can't just pass out of college and tell an actor like Ravi that you're going to make a zombie film. He wouldn't believe. You can't attempt a 20 crore film without having done something impressive at least in a smaller scale.
You can't just pass out of college and tell an actor like Ravi that you're going to make a zombie film.
Future plans...
Though we haven't started working on it, the sequels of Naaigal Jaakiradhai and Miruthan can be anticipated in the future. As soon as a line sparks up for the script, the projects will definitely be on.
Why did you come up with the 1.5 crore set idea and what were your references?
The climax had to be shot in a controlled environment accommodating around 500 people. We initially hunted for live locations in cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad but they didn't match the mentioned criteria. We had to shoot there for 2 weeks which made sense to erect the set. It was both economically and creatively justified.
The climax had to be shot in a controlled environment accommodating around 500 people.
Were people shocked or scared when you narrated your script?
The funny part here is I don't know how to narrate a script. Be it Jayam Ravi or Imman sir, I only tell them a few lines of the story for ten minutes. If they like it, they can read the rest of the script or just blindly 'nambi varalaam'. Moreover, I don't think you can put a three hour visual literally into words and narrate it, it can't be right.
The funny part here is I don't know how to narrate a script.
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