Vetrimaaran Quotes

Vada Chennai’ is a proper mainstream film, told in a sensible way.

The violence in ‘Visaranai’ is based on reality.

I like to keep my films close to reality.

The best part about an actor is that they should firstly be receptive and secondly be expressive.

Once, a man at the customs duty check at the Delhi Airport asked me a question in Hindi, and I told him that I didn’t speak the language. He got angry and said, ‘How could you not speak in Hindi? Hindi is our mother tongue.’ I told him that it wasn’t my mother tongue. He got furious, and made me wait for over 45 minutes.

There is a huge market ready to accept good Tamil content.

I wrote ‘Aadukalam’ keeping Dhanush in mind. As an actor, he delivers exactly what I need and sometimes more.

Anybody with a good smart phone can shoot and edit a film. Distributing it is the hard part.

Despite strict instructions from my mother not to step out of the house, I cycled all the way to Vellore to watch ‘Thevar Magan.’ In fact, I grew up watching classic films such as ‘Naayakan,’ ‘Thaalapathi’ and ‘En Bommukutty Ammavukku.’

Actually, after three years, I realised that the opening scenes of ‘Polladhavan’ were inspired by ‘Lolita,’ in which the lead character says, ‘Why did I meet her? My life would have been different had I not met her.’

I always feel that my films ought to teach me something about life.

If you get the right cast, half your work is done.

I am a serious filmmaker, and I see the whole process of filmmaking more as a piece of art.

Primarily, a festival is a platform to sell films that are not meant for the mainstream audience. Cultural exchange is also important aspect of a film festival.

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.

One of my staff members told me that after the release of the film, whenever a custodial death is reported, people say – ‘Another ‘Visaranai.’ This is the kind of change that I am looking for; it should hit you hard.

My films are a personal reflection on the impact that the state – the system and the world – has on me.

I’ve done just three films in nine years.

Slum children eat crow’s eggs for nutrition yet nobody respects this common bird. It’s the exotic birds which fascinate all.

Craftsmanship and logic is key to any movie-making.

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.

My films are a reflection of the society I live in, what I see and observe.

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.

I can’t describe how I make a film. It’s organic.

I’ve always said that the more ethnic you become, the more international your film becomes.

We all have to consciously make efforts to identify our roots and nurture them.

If a film can’t excite me and teach me something about life, then it is not worth pursuing.

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.’

Awards are an encouragement. An award is not something we aim at while making a film.

For me, every film is a learning process. After each, I take time to unlearn.

The psychology of education is all about how the society gets benefited from it.

The pressure and hype is created by the media. Of course, expectations are there and we cannot stop that nor change yourself for expectations. We just continue making films.

It’s always good to promote a film on a larger scale before it’s been put to test.

India is a conglomeration of different states with various languages, tradition, and culture for each.

The budget of ‘Vada Chennai’ is nearly Rs 60 crores.

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.

The Hindi remake rights for ‘Visaranai’ have been bought by director Priyadarshan.

In Toronto, the film festival is like a carnival… entire families come to it.

And I don’t want people to think that I make movies based on other films.

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.

Every film that I make is an accident.

I feel you lose your audience when you make movies for others and not for yourself or your people.

We’d like to explore the prequel idea. I think it would be best suited as a web series on some digital platform. The prequel will be called ‘Rajan Vagaira,’ and it will track the rise of Rajan’s character in ‘Vada Chennai’ and how he built his empire.

Kaaka Muttai’ is the expression of an insider. It is a film about globalisation and its effects.