Debutante director Rajadurai, former assistant to Suraaj, is excited about his upcoming film Muthuramalingam, which has Gautham Karthik and Priya Anand in lead roles. He says the story is about a guy who excels in kaththi-silambam (an ancient martial art form, where a knife is attached to the stick).
He adds, “Just like Thevar Magan explored the emotional conflict between a father and son, Muthuramalingam talks about the same between a mother and her son. Sage Agastya is believed to have structured silambam’s framework and modalities. When I did my research, I found out that a network of people who were well-trained in this art form have existed across the Chera, Chola and Pandya kingdoms.”
Muthuramalingam has Napoleon, Viji Chandrasekhar, Suman, Vamsi Krishna and Rekha in pivotal roles. The filmmaker adds that Gautham and Priya were trained for their characters. Also, this is the first time that both are starring in rural characters.
“When we started shooting, our crew had no clue about silambam and its significance. Then, we visited some villages like Theni and Pollachi for shooting some important sequences in the film. To our surprise, we saw even little kids practicing silambam with conviction and passion. It was nice that people still held on to their roots, culture and tradition,” he shares.
What made him focus on silambam? “I don’t believe martial arts are just about self-defence and fighting. There’s grace, beauty and peace in them. Silambam is more than just about twirling sticks. It can be a fighting technique, a performing art and a sport. Earlier, the art form was taught under a guru-sishya system, but today it’s a registered sport,” he explains.
Having extensively shot in and around Courtallam, Madurai, Theni, Tirunelveli, and Chottanikkara, Rajadurai was all praise for his actors. “Priya Anand will be seen in the role of a Class 12 student. She has performed a few risky shots in the film. We trained her for 15 days, and Gautham was trained for 45 days. Now, both of them have become quite adept in silambam. At the same time, they have mastered the local Madurai dialects. They can fling the swords in style. It's scientifically-proven that silambam helps improve creativity, self-confidence and lateral thinking,” he grins.
While Ilaiyaraaja is the music director, Kamal Haasan has crooned a song in the film, which has lyrics penned by the late legendary Panchu Arunachalam. “He had asked Panchu sir if he could pen songs for the film, and he immediately agreed. Unfortunately, Panchu sir isn’t with us today,” adds Rajadurai.
What’s next? “It has been more than 15 years since I entered K’town. I was assisting Suraaj in his films like Thalai Nagaram (2006), Padikathavan (2009) and so on. Since I have worked in such big films, it was easy for me to direct Muthuramalingam,” he shares. The makers are planning to havethe movie released by end of this month.