Newbie A Senthil Kumar’s directorial debut Vaaimai, starring Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, is releasing today. Senthil, who has previously assisted Vasantha Balan and Kanda Naal Mudhal (2005) director Priya, tells us, “It was challenging to rope in a lot of veteran actors like Poornima Bhagyaraj, Bhagyaraj sir, Manoj Bharathiraja, Prithvi Pandiarajan, Goundamani, Ramki, Thiagarajan, Urvashi and others for this project. It’s not a biopic, but certain parts of the story are inspired by real-life incidents. Poornima plays Shanthanu’s mother and Goundamani will be seen in the role of a cardiologist, Dr Benny.”
Quiz him on the delay, the director explains, “There’s an animation song in the film and it took two years for me to complete it. Had it been a simple film, I could have finished it soon; but this one was taken on a large scale. It’s a humorous film based on certain ideologies.”
Senthil is confident that his film will work with the audience. “When many saw the trailer, they told me the film resembles the movie Pulan Visaranai (1990). With twists and surprises, I have written an engaging screenplay. We extensively shot in places like Delhi, Rishikesh, Haridwar and Kollimalai. The story revolves around a mother-son duo and how they are affected by our judicial system,” he smiles.
Senthil adds, according to the sensibilities of the Tamil audience, the distance between real and reel has been bridged in this movie. “For many years now, stories are being created for heroes and the whole film is more or less centred on them. Such patterns need to change. Content-driven films ought to be encouraged. I think the most important change has been in the mindset of movie goers. Unlike what it was two decades ago, cinema is now being viewed with less seriousness and has become just another mode of entertainment,” he rues.
But he’s confident that new experiments are being done, which will help the newcomers to create new styles and different forms of narratives. “I want to make films like Varusham 16 (1989), which will be evergreen in the minds of the audience when they watch,” he grins.
Up next, Senthil has a film with Vijay Antony titled Thirudan.