Venkatesh Kumar’s films focus more on bringing about social change, than becoming blockbusters. His last film was a documentary titled Kannadi Bomaigal, which won awards at a few international film festivals.
Now, Venkatesh is ready with a feature film, Light Man, which will mirror the life of light technicians in the industry, and their day-to-day struggles. “Without light technicians, you cannot make films! They work for more than 14 hours a day, but are the least-paid and least-recognised workers in the film industry. This film aims to show their importance and portray their distress,” Venkatesh says.
He has spoken to many light men, and has documented their pain — “Those interviews were the starting point of the film. I visited their families and saw the pain they were in. That propelled me to take the project on.”
Though Light Man has been catalogued as a feature film, it is more or less a semi-feature. “The story is about an aspiring actor who ends up as a light man. The flick is intertwined with captured interviews of real light men.”
The film stars Karthik Nagarajan and Jenifer in the lead, and the music is by Tony Britto. “I want the film to bring about an upheaval in the condition of these workers. I want their salaries to go up. More than commercial success, I want this film to bring about a change,” Venkatesh asserts.
