Director Thangar Bachan is of the opinion that his 'Ammavin Kaipesi' will make audiences discuss it extensively. “Cinema is not about showing things a director wants his audience to see. Sometimes, he should leave it to people to decide a few things. This film will do the same,” he says. Ask him what made him think that Shanthanoo, who has done only urban characters in his previous films, will be suitable to play a villager, he says, he couldn’t have done the film without him. “I can only say he was born to essay the role of Annamalai in the film.” Bachan feels even if a director can create different characters, only actors can give life to them.
“I recently screened Ammavin Kaipesi to a group of 65 people. Everyone was speechless and impressed with my work. Some of them came up to me and hugged. Thamizharuvi Maniyan (a popular speaker) was one of them. He also gave me a call around 11 that night and said he never thought cinema could ever be such a powerful medium. And I know that’s what everybody is going to say after watching the film,” says this cinematographer-turned-director. Director- screenplay writer Bhagyaraj too was present with wife Poornima, at the screening since his son Shanthanoo plays the male lead in the film. He said that Thangar has proved yet again that the story is the hero of a film.
Ammavin Kaipesi based on a novel written by Bachan and talks about how a cellphone becomes the most important thing in a mother’s life as that’s the only way she can be in touch with her sons. “The effect of the film is at least five times stronger than the novel,” he says. The director’s previous film Onbadhu Roobai Nottu was also based on his own novel.
While Thangar laments that the number of screens, his film is releasing in is very less compared to the other films, he hopes the scene will change during the second week.
“Almost all big films with big stars have flopped at the box office this year and only small movies have done well. Even then, it’s difficult to get the deserving number of screens for a film, as theatres are willing to show only the big releases. Ammavin Kaipesi has got only the last place in terms of the number of screens after two Hindi films, two other Tamil films and a Telugu film, but I’m sure things will change,” he concludes.
Thangar Bachan set off a new trend of love stories in Tamil cinema with his first film Azhagi. He introduced director Cheran as an actor in his second film Solla Marandha Kadhai. Thendral, his third film, portrayed actor Parthiban in a different shade altogether and then he himself became an actor with Chidambarathil Oru Appasamy.
There has always been something new and unexpected about this filmmaker and his films. Pallikoodam and Onbadhu Roobai Nottu might have been about the lives of normal people but Bachan portrayed it in the most real way possible.
While his Kalavadiya Pozhudhugal with Prabhu Deva and Prakashraj is yet to hit screens, Ammavin Kaipesi is releasing alongside big releases - Thuppakki and Podaa Podi — on November 13. Bachan seems to have already gotten a hint of the kind of impact his film is going to have on the audience.