- ச. Anandapriya
- For BBC Tamil
An hour ago
Image source, Director Thamizh
Sethuman, a film set in western Tamil Nadu, talks about food politics and the lives of the victims and the people who oppose it. Director Pa. The Tamil directorial debut film ‘Chethuman’ produced by Ranjith was released live last week on the Sony Live ODT site. Writer Perumal Murugan’s short story ‘Varukari’ has now become ‘Chethuman’.
‘Chethuman’ has won the attention of many at international film festivals in Kerala and Pune and has won the Grand Jury Award at the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles.
We spoke to the director Tamil who drew attention in the first film like this. He started the conversation with BBC Tamil from the story he came into the cinema.
“Today we may have thousands of things as hobbies. But, when we were children, cinema was the biggest hobby we had then. Film and heroes were the big thing for us. That’s how I wanted to come to cinema. I did the work I got and then went back to the city. Then I joined Rajiv Menon, a director and cinematographer, to study at the company. Later I worked as an assistant director to directors like Venkatprabhu and became a director “.
You grew up watching commercial films, what was the reason for directing the experimental film ‘Chethuman’ in your first film?
“It’s true. I grew up watching commercial films and wanted to make my directorial debut with films like that. But I could not find the right production company on the right budget, so it’s going to go away. This movie is just the beginning.
It was only after coming to Chennai that I became familiar with literature. So, I decided to shoot a short story and filmed the short story ‘Varukari’ by writer Perumal Murugan. It’s a story that can be filmed at low cost.
Image source, Director Thamizh
However, when the budget was put in place, there was a situation where I could not flip that amount. Ranjith was the assistant director to director Venkatprabhu. So, Ranjith is used to me. I met him and told him the story. He came up with the idea of ’making this myself’ because he liked the story and gave me complete freedom as a producer “.
The film has been screened at several international awards ceremonies and won awards before being released live on ODD. Was there a fear that people would approach this as an award-winning film when it was like that?
“Of course! Until now there is that fear too. Even if you have seen the film at the beginning we will not mention anything about the selection at the awards ceremonies and the award winning. , Without mentioning anything about it.
In the film, each character exhibited a very natural acting. How did you choose them?
“It was a very challenging thing. We searched and found. Prasanna, who played the role of Pannadi, is popular on the YouTube channel ‘Knuckleights’. Kumar is a street artist who played the role of Rangan. We first chose him for a different role. It was then that Rangan came into the role.
A lot of people said that the look of Manikkam who played the role of Poochiyappan is similar to that of writer Perumal Murugan. But not so. He hails from Sankagiri in Namakkal district. We chose that town for the regional case. He is also a koothu artist. Gayatri who came as Pannadi’s wife worked in a jewelery shop. All but a few who starred in the film like this are new faces. We searched a lot “.
Why was the title of the short story changed to ‘Sethuman’ when it was ‘Varukari’?
“‘Varukari’ was the title of the short story, so we were forced to look for a different title for the film. This ‘cheetah’. We put it on because we liked it when we heard it. The word matched because the pork in the mud tastes just as good as the deer curry. ”
Image source, Director Thamizh
What was the reason for taking up food politics in the very first story?
“According to the short story, the old man could have finished their story with his grandson, what eventually happens when he eats curry. I put all those things inside thinking about what the old man would need while filming this. Is increasing and we are recording things like students’ education being affected ”.
Do you intend to continue working on similar storylines?
“I have a desire to direct more political films. I am going to direct the next film with Vijayakumar, the protagonist of ‘Uriyadi’. Filming is set to start next month.”
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