The world premiere of Tamil film ‘Visaranai’, produced by Indian actor Dhanush of the ‘Kolaveri Di’ song and Bollywood movie ‘Raanjhana’ fame, was held in the recently concluded 72nd Venice International Film Festival. While Dhanush couldn’t make it to the festival, the film’s director, Vetrimaaran, along with his team attended the festival and enjoyed the interaction with the audience.
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This isn’t the first time Vetrimaaran and Dhanush have worked together. His first directorial venture ‘Polladhavan’ in 2007 featured Dhanush in lead role. In 2011, ‘Aadukalam’ won them National Award for the Best Director and Screenplay (Vetrimaaran) and Best Actor (Dhanush). ‘Kaaka Muttai’, jointly produced by them, and directed by M Manikandan, was selected for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015 in Canada.
Republica’s Dipendra Lama caught up with the director during the film festival to talk about the growing popularity of South Indian films, and his take on how Nepali films can get international exposure.
Excerpts
Why didn’t Dhanush come to the festival?
He is very busy shooting for another film. It wouldn’t make sense to promote one’s film while stalling another producer’s work. However, he has been updating himself on the festival via phone and Internet.
How did your friendship with him start?
I worked as an assistant director in many films starring Dhanush, and that’s precisely how we became good friends. Today, the trust between us is so strong, he didn’t even read the script before deciding to produce ‘Visaranai.’
Don’t you have plans to work with Rajinikanth?
Who wouldn’t want to work with him? But for now, I don’t have a story matching his craze, charisma, and age.
Many South Indian directors are making Hindi films in an attempt to expose themselves to a larger audience. Do you have similar plans?
I will consider making Hindi films if a story demands Hindi language and Bollywood actors, but my primary focus will be to promote the language, culture, story and characters of my region.
But you do watch Bollywood movies, don’t you?
I rarely watch Bollywood films because I can’t relate myself with their language, characters and stories. In my honest opinion, most Bollywood films lack the artistic merit of South Indian films.
What’s your opinion of Nepal?
I haven’t been to Nepal yet, but observing from a distance, I think it’s a country where political movements constantly go on.
Nepali films face competition with Bollywood films in its own country. What should the producers do in this case?
The first solution could be the government introducing a quota system. It can decide on the number of foreign films to be released in the country annually. Likewise, they can also set a law regarding how many days or shows of Nepali movies a multiplex must run.
What about the directors?
Don’t copy Bollywood. It would be a disaster to copy a cheaper version of high-budgeted Bollywood movies. Nepali directors should come up with original films involving local stories and characters. Nepali films should be able to offer something that Bollywood and Hollywood can’t. Only then even international audience will be drawn towards Nepali films. Most importantly, the artistic merit and film language should be strong.
