Creative freedom curtailed: Santhanam

“Unlike in the Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam industries where the scriptwriters go to extremes to make comic elements work in a film, there are too many restrictions in Tamil Nadu. You need creative freedom to weave a comedy script, which is curtailed here. For anything and everything, a few people start objecting and create a controversy and they do this for cheap publicity,” remarked humorist turned hero Santhanam whose upcoming film A 1: Accused Number 1 was dragged into problems by a few fringe political groups and Brahmin Associations seeking a ban on the movie.

The opposing groups alleged that in a particular scene in the teaser involving the female lead character, who is a Brahmin,  eating a half-boiled egg to ‘prove her love’ for the hero (a North Chennai guy). This mocks Brahmin practices and Brahmin women and deliberately provokes enmity between caste groups, they said.

Speaking at the promo meet of the film, Santhanam said, “The film talks about the love between a local North Chennai boy Saravanan played by me and a Brahmin girl essayed by Tara Alisha Berry as Ramya. The humour should revolve within these two characters. And people come to a Santhanam movie to enjoy the comedy. And any comedy can be spiced up only when there’s a conflict. And if you notice from the days of ace comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Nagesh, Goundamnai and Senthil, and Vadivelu, humour works to a large extent when you allow them to perform counter reactions, be they dialogues or through body language.  And that’s precisely what Johnson, the director of the film, has incorporated in A1. A teaser is meant for teasing and we did not have any intention of hurting the sentiments of anyone. And when you watch the film, you would know.”

Santa, who has shed oodles of kilos quickly, adds that as an actor he also has social responsibility as what to portray on screen. “That’s why I apologised when people pointed out that my first look poster of my yet another upcoming film Dacaalti which had me holding a cigar, and that might promote smoking as we know that it’s injurious to health. I also ensured that my future films would never carry such posters.”

Santa has been opting for young and upcoming Bollywood girls as his romantic pair ever since he turned a hero. He explained, “They give time whenever we want and they fit our bill as well, which is not the case with heroines from here. Tara has done a great job in A1.”

Hailing composer Santhosh Narayanan who is normally associated with biggies he said, “After Santhosh was roped in, the scale of A1 has gone up multiple times. I was glad when Santhosh sir said that after Soodhu Kavvum, it was A 1’s script which excited him. Santhosh said he was fascinated by Johnson's script.” Produced by Circle box Entertainment, A 1 hits marquee today (July 26.)