“I believe that an answer through cinema to propaganda becomes reverse propaganda. We must stick to discussing facts.”
Category: Conversations
The Ilaiyaraaja interview
“Dressed in white, as though he needed further deifying, he sits in front of you, waiting for your first question. You blurt out astonishment that he’s worked on more than 1,000 films, more than 7,000 songs, and more than 20,000 concerts. It’s astronomical, and it’s almost frightening. “
The Joe Russo interview
“It helps that despite his sociopathic tendencies, there are altruistic motivations attached to Thanos’ goal. He has this monastic dedication to achieving it.”
A new dawn: Roundtable conversation with five debutant directors
“We have to understand that the roots of these problems are firmly within our education system, which is designed to create corporate slaves. The trailer of a star’s next film has accummulated views by the million, and we really have to begin asking what we get out of such films. How can we change our taste, our appreciation of cinema? How can we stop making deities out of actors?”
A slave of art: The Vijay Sethupathi interview
“If I fail, I become a bad, frightening example for this road. They will point at this route and say, “That’s where Vijay Sethupathi died.” For this reason, I must not fail. My success is important.”
Not rankled anymore if I don’t have a film with a star: Samantha Akkineni
“I can summon tears at will. With due respect to method actors, I think truth comes out of spontaneity.”
Searching is my Following: Anish Chaganty
“The media and Hollywood usually portrays technology in negative light. Searching isn’t one such indictment. Yes, technology can alienate, but it can also connect. It can make us hope, it can make us love… and maybe, it can bring a dad and daughter together — like in Searching.”
Kamal Haasan: ‘I have turned out to be like Thevar Magan’s hero’
“I’d like for Vishwaroopam II to be among my last films, because I have work to do. I’ll do these last few films I’ve already committed to because I need money for myself and the party. Once my political responsibility increases though…”
CS Amudhan: We are not trolls
“I find people using words like ‘bangam’, troll, and ‘kalaai’ in talking about this film. Some seem to believe that the film is just a collection of memes. I reject such conclusions. Our objective is to make people laugh, and to that effect, we are picking well-known moments from Tamil cinema mainly. It’s not about targetting a few actors.”
Fleshing out a horror diet
“I’d rather do comedy. I’ve gone through depression, and all that… Now, I just want to be funny and silly, and make people laugh.”
After Maa, I’m motivated to make a short film myself: Gautham Menon
“Imagine if directors like Selvaraghavan and Lingusamy released such short films on YouTube every once in a while. These films barely take a couple of days of shooting, after all.”
‘It’s important not to confuse the real Sivakarthikeyan with the actor’
“It’s important not to confuse the real Sivakarthikeyan with the actor. For instance, I don’t smoke and drink. I don’t chase women. I despise violence. But I cannot tell a director that I won’t do those things in a film. On Remo, one Tamil publication wrote, Remo samudhaayaththin saabakedu. Really? I understand giving me advice, but why would people try to stop a film from doing well?”
