Anand Murthy, a Bengaluru-based Tamil, is one of the thousands of young people who came to Chennai with the dream of becoming a ‘director’. After many struggles, he worked as an assistant director to directors Kathir and Bala.
Anand Murthy has made it his policy that every film of his should make a mark in film history.
So he wanted to record the lives of the Tamils who migrated from their native land and the sacrifices of the heroes who fought for their rights on screen.
‘Dileepan’ is his first film in that direction.
In the LTTE movement, a young man named Dileepan, who was in charge of the political department of Jaffna district, on 14th September 1987, on behalf of his movement, started a hunger strike at Nallur in a non-violent way, emphasizing 12 demands to the government of Sri Lanka and the government of India.
The crowd that initially numbered between five hundred and a thousand in the public swelled to lakhs on September 26, the 12th day of the fast – the day Dileepan took his own life.
Dilipan’s sacrifice of his life for the movement left a great impact and respect for Tamils all over the world.
In search of Dileepan’s history…
Anand Murthy, who planned to record the life of that young man Dileepan on screen, has been to Sri Lanka five times to study Dileepan. He has been constantly searching for videos and books about him.
Anand Murthy has taken great pains to meet and gather information from a very small number of people who were acquainted with Dileep.
Initially, the plan was to make it a forty-minute film. After listening to the script, director Bala has agreed to produce it himself.
Actor Nanda, who had already acted in the film ‘Punnagai Poo’, was looking for someone suitable to play the role of Dileepan in it.
For Dileepan’s facial resemblance – his front set of dentures, Nanda has worn artificial dentures on top of his original set of teeth on the advice of dentists.
Wearing the dentures all day could not prevent bleeding between the original teeth inside. However, Nanda has endured the pain and acted.
After watching Dileepan’s videos, he fitted himself into the role and lost a considerable amount of weight.
How did it turn into a movie?
Due to various reasons, the release of the 40-minute film on Dileepan has been delayed, but actor Nanda, who decided to make it a full-length film, has said that he will take over the production responsibilities himself.
“The efforts I have taken to make the film authentic will reflect one hundred percent in this film,” says Nanda.
Vinod Sagar, who plays Kittu in the film, is famous for playing a teacher who sexually assaults female students in the Tamil hit film Radshasan. Currently, he has acted in more than ten films and is emerging as the best actor in the Malayalam film world.
“When I went to audition for the role of Kittu in Dileepan, I was initially rejected by the director. The reason is my body language and sense of humor! Then his assistants told me about me and gave me videos about Kittu.
For days, watching it, I entered the character and traveled. Basically I am a theater artist. Because of this, he gained acting experience through stage plays.
The next time I saw the director, I prepared myself thoroughly, including Sri Lankan Tamil. He couldn’t believe it.
Vinod Sagar says, “You have become a kid” and roped me in to act in this historical film.
Actor Sridhar plays the role of Prabhakaran and Bharath, who made his debut in Shankar’s Boys as Captain Miller and later became famous with the film Kaadhal, is playing the role.
All the Sri Lankan scenes of Dileepan’s early life were shot in various villages of Kerala.
Velraj, who has done the cinematography for hit films like Asuran, Komban, Viruman, has also done the cinematography for this film.
The creator who gave life to the characters
Thangavelayutham, who has been with Dileepan as a consultant on everything from the very beginning, including production design, teaching Sri Lankan Tamil to the respective actors.
He was the in-charge of the LTTE movement’s art department from the beginning of that movement.
Called Dewar Anna by the LTTE, he hails from Prabhakaran’s hometown of Valvettithurai.
He was also close to the leading leaders of the movement. Especially the one who watched over the 12-day hunger strike of Dilepan on the orders of President Prabhakaran. He also witnessed the final pilgrimage of Dileepan from close quarters.
On Saturday 26th September 1987, at 10.48 am, Doctor Sivakumar, who was examining Dileepan’s physical condition, confirmed Dileepan’s death while crying. Tyaga Deepam Dileepan left us all at that moment.
Tearing up the agreement, everyone started crying. The sound of crying everywhere.
Dileepan’s father, who had been circling the stage where Dileepan was fasting for those twelve days, climbed on the stage for the first time, fell on Dileepan’s body and started crying.
The news of Dilipan’s death was immediately conveyed to national leader Prabhakaran, who was in talks with the Indian authorities.
As soon as it was received, the negotiations were stopped and our national leader returned,” says Devar Anna, recording the incident in his book, ‘En Memde Tamil Eelam’, written by him.
Devar Anna, who has seen Dileepan so far, spoke to BBC Tamil.
For this film, director Anand Murthy was very careful to capture Dileepan’s life story on screen without any mistakes.
He did not finish this film like others, but consulted me on the smallest details of each scene and brought it to the screen very clearly.
I am also looking forward to the date when the film is completed and released in theaters all over the world,” says Devar Anna alias Thanga Velayutham.
Anand Murthy has also prepared the story of the second film before the release of Dileepan.
Additional news is that actor Sasikumar has agreed to play the hero in the story about Malaysian Tamils.
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