Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
recent interview
I think so. I was built up for Bheema. The director Lingusamy, I know really well, and Vikram and I keep running into one another. And Harris (Jayaraj), who did the music, kept saying, “It’s such a brilliant film.” But when I went and watched the film, I was so disappointed that I just had to say something about it. It was disappointment more than anything else. And I also said, “Yes, they can talk about my Pachaikili Muthucharam.” I don’t mind at all. I’m open for debate. Let’s talk – because that will be a very positive approach towards films that come out.
But doesn’t this rub people the wrong way? We don’t have a Koffee with Karan culture here, or even an Om Shanti Om culture, where industry folks talk freely and also laugh at themselves.
Yeah. I think I have rubbed people the wrong way. I think Vikram hates me now and Vijay had a problem with what I said [about his giving me DVDs of his films so that I could incorporate elements from them into a script for him]. Even the guys in my team said, “You shouldn’t talk. Your words do have an effect.” But I don’t care. It’s my view. And I’m sure they can talk about my film. That’s the way it should be. I mean, if you’re going to tell me that Vikram and Vijay are not going to work with me because of this, I think it’s their loss. There are a lot of other heroes.
So you don’t think you’re cutting off avenues for yourself, in terms of working with these heroes.
I don’t think so. I’m making a film with newcomers – four boys. I don’t know how well the film will do, but at least I’m enjoying myself. These boys give me everything. If I ask them to perform 15 somersaults, they’ll do it. Even Surya has worked for me like that in Varanam Aayiram. The kind of hard work I’ve seen Kamal sir do in all these films from Satya to Virumaandi, Surya has done with this one film. I’m just saying in terms of effort, you know? I said, “At 17 [years of age], I need you to look like this, at 21, like this, and at 31, you’re a tough guy, so can we have a six-pack?” It’s only for one scene. And for four months, he went off everything. Anybody eating on the sets would feel really bad because he’d eat only boiled vegetables and chicken with no salt. We were shooting in Dehra Dun, and he’d go to a hotel and ask for chicken with no salt. They couldn’t understand what he was talking about. And he was going through all that just for a film.
So you’re saying…
I can always do a film with Surya, with Karthi – with so many youngsters. But I’m hoping the others will come around. I’m not saying we can do without big stars, but they should work on our terms. Vijay is a fantastic draw. The kind of money that he makes, nobody else does. Why can’t he do a film with Selvaraghavan or with me, on our terms? We’ve proved ourselves, you know? Why can’t he work with a good team? It’s only for the benefit of good cinema – and the producers and the distributors are going to end up happy. We need these big stars. I know how much girls like Surya, so when I knew Surya was my protagonist, I worked a little bit around his image. There are some scenes in the film which are for Surya, and which I know the girls will like.
Are you saying you’ve tweaked your screenplay to suit a star’s image?
The only time I tweaked a screenplay to suit an image was with Sharat Kumar in Pachaikili. We gave him a fight at the end, because everyone kept saying, “You can’t tie him up to a chair and have him beaten up.” Other than that, even with Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, we didn’t go with Kamal sir’s image at all. We went with what the script wanted. And in Varanam Aayiram, I’ve just used that image of Surya in the love scenes. There’s no heroism or anything like that. He doesn’t do anything outlandish that the screenplay doesn’t deserve.
That’s funny, because looking at the hype and the promos, I thought this was going to be some sort of spectacle.
I don’t know what gave you that idea. If Varanam Aayiram comes out well (and I hope it will), it will be my best film till date – because it’s straight from the heart. It’s emotional. It’s not unnecessarily commercial. But yes, the budget is 14 crores, and Oscar Ravichandran, the producer, wants to know that the film will do well, especially since Pachaikili didn’t do well for the same producer. So there are seven songs. They’ve come out really well. I’ve written a film that I hope the youngsters will like. Surya, Harris and I – we all have that kind of audience. I think anybody would identify with Surya’s story – so it is commercial in that sense.
Do you always see yourself as a director of commercially oriented films?
I don’t know about that, really. While making Varanam Aayiram, my assistant kept joking that this film is only for those who’ve done their PhDs.
Excuse me?
Oh, it’s not something like Schindler’s List, where you need to know about the Holocaust and stuff like that – but even in your blog, I’ve read comments that there’s a lot of English in my films. Well, why not? Everybody I know talks like that. There’s a line in the film where Divya looks at Surya and says, “You look like a million bucks.” Now, how do I write that in Tamil? We tried. Then I said, “Forget it.” Someone said this would be understood only by those who’ve done their PhDs. I said it’s okay if it’s understood by those who’re meant to get it. Then there was this sequence where Surya, who’s a guitarist, sees this girl and these songs come into his head. He thinks he’s playing unplugged, jamming with the likes of Eric Clapton and Ilayaraja and other guitar gods. But we couldn’t find look-alikes, so we dropped the idea. But there were moments like this…
These are the things, I guess, that have gotten you the label of an “urban” director. Would you want to make something entirely different and test yourself in the Thambi /Pazhani market?
But I don’t consciously work towards a subject. I get up in the morning and open my laptop and I begin to write. I have no idea what I’m writing about – so I’m not averse to a “rural” film. I’ve been brought up in Kerala. I know about life in small towns. I’ve studied in Keeranur, which is 25 kms from Trichy. I’ve seen, in real life, moments that were shown in Paruthi Veeran. So it’s not like I don’t know what that life is all about. What would you call Mani Ratnam? Is he an “urban” director? I would like to be compared to him at some point. I know I’m nowhere near there. When I heard that he called Selvaraghavan and said 7G Rainbow Colony was a great film… I wasn’t jealous of Selva, and he’s a good friend of mine, but I was hoping that, someday, Mani Ratnam would call me and say, “I liked your film.”
Maybe that will happen with this film. Tell us about Varanam Aayiram – without spoilers, of course.
It’s the story of a young man on the verge of life. He’s not an extraordinary human being. He’s not a superhero. The film traces his life from the time he is born, and up to a point where he realises he’s made it in life. We see the ups and downs that he goes through. We see his first love, whether he got to marry the girl he fell in love with, what his sister meant to him, what his mother meant to him, and above all, the equation he had with his father, who was an inspiration at every point in his life – including his falling in love. Now, how can a father be an inspiration for that? I’ve said that in the film. It traces parts of my life and the lives of everybody that I know.
So is it autobiographical – a sort of biopic of Gautam Menon?
It is, in a way, autobiographical. And it is, in a way, a biopic. It’s a very personal story. And if people didn’t know that 70% of this is from my life – let’s say we didn’t say that at all – what I’m hoping is that the guy next to you in the theatre will say, “Machan, this has happened to me.” Of course, there’s a little bit of fantasy. When Surya sees the girl on a train, for the first time, he can’t take his eyes off her – and he’s somebody who’s never looked at a girl like that – and the first song that comes to his mind is En iniya pon nilaave. So he pulls out his guitar and sings that song for her. That’s where a bit of fantasy, the commercial element, comes in. But I think this might happen in real life too.
Of course. Many of us define key moments in our lives through film songs and pop songs – or just pop culture in general.
Yeah. And I’m saying at the end of the film that this goes out to all the fathers out there, to all the sons and daughters and wonderful fathers. So when you get up, you remember your father. And if you are a father, you remember your son or your daughter. (My father passed away last year. About the “Vasudev,” that’s the name my father gave me. Somehow, it was connected with him, and after he passed away, I thought my name should appear as Gautam Vasudev Menon.) And I’m saying, now that your dad’s gone, you live life for your children. You shape their life. You can even rewrite their fate. Be there for your children like your father was there for you.
So is this the first time Gautam Menon has made a message movie?
Let’s shift gears to Chennayil Oru Mazhaikaalam. This is the first time you’re juggling two films. Varanam Aayiram is in postproduction, and you’ve already started shooting this one.
The title “Chennayil Oru Mazhaikaalam” has been around forever…
Again, without spoilers, what’s that about?
Speaking of Rahman, there’s been a lot of talk about the switch from your regular, Harris Jayaraj.
It’s not a switch, because I am doing a film with Harris in December, which stars Ajit (for Sivaji productions). We work really well together. I think we’re the only team that works really well together, because I know how he works with the other guys, and I know how I work with him. But I always wanted to work with Rahman, right from the word go, right from when Minnale happened – and Harris knows that. Yes, he said, “People will think we have a problem. Why do you want to do this now?” But I told him I need to do this because… You can always do a film with Surya but you still want to work with Kamal Hassan. It’s like that. When I pitched it to Rahman, the first thing he asked was, “You have a great record with Harris. They’ll think I’ve done something to that. I don’t want to get into the bad books of people. Are you sure it’s okay?” Secondly, he said, “There’s bound to be tremendous expectation. We need to live up to that. Do you think we will do that?” I told him. “Come on, let’s not worry about all that. What the film demands, we’ll do.” He’s pretty cool – very humble, very nice. I think we share a great rapport.
About that film with Ajit – with such a big star, will you attempt to tread a middle path between an Ajit film and a Gautam Menon film?
The only time it happened was with Vijay. I narrated bits of Varanam Aayiram to him. He said he loved it, but then he said, “Can you bring in some of my elements into the film?” I said it wouldn’t work in a film like this, and I walked away. (Surya was always on for this project, but while I was writing it, I had a love story ready, and that’s what I narrated to Vijay. This love story eventually became part of Varanam Aayiram, as the love chapter in Surya’s life.) So I don’t want to do that kind of compromise. I did that with Pachaikili and I made a mistake and I don’t want to do that again.
What exactly went wrong with Pachaikili? It had an interesting story, a good team…
From the films that he usually does, you wouldn’t immediately think of Sharat Kumar for this part.
Do you think you’ve reached a stage in your career where the non-performance of a film like Pachaikili doesn’t affect you?
Have you ever thought of doing films in Bollywood? You can play around with a greater variety of subjects, and the higher ticket prices mean that recovery is also that much faster…
Plus, you can get four top-line heroes to act in the same film. I have a lot of ideas like that. But I don’t want to make the mistake I made with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein. Nobody knows me there, so I want to go with a big actor that the crowd will come for. I am pitching something with Abhishek (Bachchan) right now. Hopefully, it will come through. I’m also thinking of a remake of Vettaiyaadu with Amitabh, taking out the love angle. It’s now just about a cop on the verge of retirement, who gets into the serial killer thing that he’s not able to handle physically. I’m talking to UTV and Suresh Balaji, just to get there and meet the big guy. Maybe something will happen