Meet TN's Kurosawa

After receiving critical acclaim for his film Visaaranai, filmmaker Vetrimaaran is already enjoying national and international recognition. His film, Visaaranai, which came out in 2015 has been selected by the jury as India’s official entry to the 89th Academy Awards. The story of the film revolves around four labourers and their predicament when they are arrested for a crime they did not commit, and how they are tortured by the police into admitting their guilt. Based on a partially autobiographical novel by M Chandrakumar, the film also won three national awards prior to its selection for the Oscars. When speaking with the film director, the one thing that comes through loud and clear is his confidence in his abilities. Be that as it may, the Oscars’ selection was something Vetrimaaran had not even dreamed of.

“I knew that the film would open in festivals and do very well in the domestic market but the entry at the Oscars is a complete surprise. Initially, it didn’t even register that I had actually got this honour,” he says. Not one to sit back on his laurels, though, the director has already started work to ensure a good chance at the Oscars. “We are busy trying to figure out a way to promote our film on an international level for the Oscars. There is no time to bask,” he adds. While the filmmaker picked up the concept of the film from the novel Lock Up by M Chandrakumar, he added his own twist to Visaaranai. “The film is on police corruption and brutality and I took the first half of the movie from Lock Up which was M Chandrakumar’s first book. I wrote the second part of the movie in order to bring it to a conclusion,” he says.

A self-proclaimed fan of Akira Kurosawa, Vetriramaan seems to have a similar propensity for dark dramas and thrillers. When asked about his affinity for the genre, the director shrugs it off, “I work on scripts that appeal to me at that given point in time, just as the concept for Visaaranai did. If I got hold of a romantic script, I would do that film too, but the major criteria is that I should be able to connect with it,” he says. Success seems to have followed the director right from his first film Polladhavan, where he received a Vijay Award for best director. However, the path to filmmaking was not an easy one for him. The director-producer, who dropped out of his masters to pursue his dream of venturing into films and becoming a director, admits that his work in the film industry began, thanks to a happy chance.

A scene from the film

“There was no conscious decision on my part to quit education and to start working as an assistant director but things just happened that way. I met my mentor Balu Mahendra, who was a visiting professor at my college and used to come and give a lecture once a year. I happened to attend one of his workshops and really liked what he was teaching,” he says, adding that he began working with the director immediately and continued to work with him for the next eight years. Like most assistant directors though, the work was gruelling and Vetrimaaran remembers the time and Balu’s mentorship with nostalgia and a hint of amusement. “I worked with Balu as his assistant director for a series called Kadhai Neram which means story time. Balu never taught anybody. He made your life miserable and you were forced to learn everything, so that you could survive,” he laughs.

It was while he was working on a film with his mentor that Vetrimaaran met Dhanush and therein began a bond, which has given the Tamil film industry a number of hits. Right from the start, the filmmaker recalls connecting with the then-budding actor. “I told him about the idea for my first film and he liked the script. We had to wait three years before we got someone to produce the film, though,” Vetrimaaran recalls. When asked about his continued professional and personal friendship with the author, with whom the filmmaker has collaborated on each of his films, he simply says, “There is a mutual trust and respect for each other as artistes and people in general, which has been there from the start. We don’t unnecessarily choke ourselves with proximity. We keep a healthy distance and retain the friendship.”

While his transition into the role of director from assistant director was relatively smooth, his segue into the film industry was not quite smooth on the personal front. “My father and I never really got along through my adolescence because of one reason or the other but my mother had faith in me and told me to do what I feel comfortable doing,” the director recalls. “It was my mother who convinced him that letting me work under Balu would do me good. I told them that I would take three years of my life to see if it works and if I see that I cannot fit in with the work or can’t do it, I would do whatever they wanted me to do,” he adds.

While the past has the filmmaker feeling contemplative and slightly melancholic, he is much more confident about the future. The director is completely focused on his hopeful attempt at the Oscars and his upcoming project, Vada Chennai, which will once again star Dhanush. “I am not working on anything other than Vada Chennai and Oscar preparations. I prefer to keep it minimal and the Oscars are really keeping me busy right now. In fact, I am travelling from tomorrow to ensure that we stand a chance,” he signs off.