For me, in any story that I take, the antagonist is more interesting and multi-dimensional.
— Vetrimaaran
When you're a filmmaker or a scriptwriter, you face a lot of challenges while making a film. And when you produce it, you have to put in an extra effort.
It is much easier to do a film about something that the audience readily knows about - say, cricket. It is much more difficult to write a film based on golf.
I don't find anything black and white; I find grey in every person, and that is what excites me.
Vada Chennai' is a proper mainstream film, told in a sensible way.
I've always said that the more ethnic you become, the more international your film becomes.
If a film can't excite me and teach me something about life, then it is not worth pursuing.
I like to keep my films close to reality.
I don't believe in one slow panning-shot to show a place. It should unfurl in the story itself.
AJ' is a very special movie to me. I have been watching Dinesh and Rajkumar from their initial days, and have witnessed their evolution. The film talks about the bond shared between a father and a son who wants to fulfil his father's dreams. It's a cross between a comedy of errors and a political satire.
Vada Chennai 2' needs a big budget.
My films are a personal reflection on the impact that the state - the system and the world - has on me.
My mentor is Balu Mahendra.
The younger generation of filmmakers is concerned about our roots, rather than making films with characters plucked out of the cloud or some English DVD. Actually since 2000, Tamil cinema is going through some positive changes.
I can't write about someone who is unlike me in all senses-physically, emotionally and socially.
My films are a reflection of the society I live in, what I see and observe.
Whatever film it is, the geography has to be right. If I cannot establish it, I'll get lost. I wouldn't even understand it in the first place! I hence visit a place and decide what can be conveyed from where; how that can be incorporated in the story.
Rajkumar was the winner of 'Naalaya Iyakkunar Season 2,' and I was impressed with his short film. He joined me as an assistant when I started the pre-production work for 'Vada Chennai.'
I wasn't happy the way I completed 'Asuran' or abandoned the film as it isn't complete. People are liking it and it's making money and I'm glad but I'm not happy with how I had to finish it.
Going international is my game. I've always wanted to do it, and after 'Aadukalam,' I got to meet Anurag Kashyap, the face of alternate Indian cinema to the world.
We all have to consciously make efforts to identify our roots and nurture them.
The budget of 'Vada Chennai' is nearly Rs 60 crores.
I can't describe how I make a film. It's organic.
I do films for the common man and identify myself one among them.
