“Three directors who made strong debuts this year—P Virumandi, RDM, and Desingh Periyasamy—come together for this special year-end conversation, as they discuss struggles, inspirations, and future plans”
Category: Conversations
‘There’s no greater gift to a filmmaker than the gift of freedom’
“What we were going for with this character is a man who is on the cusp of reformation but is wrongly influenced by an evil advisor. I see this film as tracking the transformation of this father character from a confused casteist leader into an understanding, apologetic father.”
‘Vetri Maaran sir never gave me the script of our film’
‘The truth is, all of us had some reservations. Even I had my concerns. You see, when you handle such a topic, there’s a good chance that you could face backlash from both sides, the one you are raising a voice for, and the side that you are raising a voice against. And yet, I thought that it would all be worth it.’
Sudha Kongara: Women have to work twice as hard for half the credit
“She pours into her films quite a bit from her own life, she says. For instance, there’s a scene in Soorarai Pottru in which the protagonist Maaran’s father communicates wordlessly. It’s inspired by her father (who passed away during the making of this film and to whom there’s a dedication at the beginning), who kept calling out to her at the end, though he couldn’t speak.”
I recommended another actor for my part in Tenet: Dimple Kapadia
“The truth is, I tried every trick out there not to do this. I don’t do auditions generally and didn’t want to — not even for Tenet. At my age, you begin to ask what you are going to get now, doing a Hollywood film.”