The screen opens with a swanky red car cruising the streets of New Jersey, and one immediately senses the difference. Achchamundu Achchamundu is not your typical Tamil film. It looks different, it sounds different, and the people in it behave differently. They actually speak like we do. They do not yell, nor grimace or gesticulate to get their point across to each other. So too the screenplay does not scream at you or telegraph emotions. It gently follows a happy Tamil family living in New Jersey, whose lives get
irrevocably changed by the appearance of an American painter who turns out to be a child molester.
Yes, in his very first film, Arun Vaidyanathan has chosen to tackle a subject that has been taboo on screen. I caught up with the filmmaker who had his roots in Tamil Nadu’s Seerkazhi, then quit his job as a software engineer in the US and finally jumped into doing what he loves best: making Tamil films for a global audience.
What inspired you to create a universal film? Or is there such a thing at all?
Any film, if properly done, is a universal film. Iranian films are watched by people across the world. Everyone watches the kid (in Majid Majidi’s Chidren of Heaven) try to get back his sister’s shoes and everyone cries with him, irrespective of language and culture. Emotions are universal, after all. So why shouldn’t a Tamil film be watched by everyone? I am inspired by Ang Lee who transcended territories and cultures with his cinema. He makes Wedding Banquet followed by a Hollywood blockbuster like Hulk, only to return with the contorversial classic Brokeback Mountain. He is my role model.
Your villain is a paedophile. How and why did you choose this as a subject for your first film?
NRI films have become a formula by themselves. Human tendency is to always miss what is not there. NRI films have come to mean nostalgic longing for Indianness. I
decided to break the rut and I chose a topic that has today struck a chord from screens in China and Chicago to Rohini and other theatres in Chennai. Paedophilia is a global issue, and such incidents happen to many families in the US.
You have used the RedOne camera for your film. Peter Jackson and now Kamalahaasan are using it and all are singing its prasies. How did you feel shooting India’s first
RedOne movie?
RedOne is a tool, that’s all, but a great tool at that. All credit goes to my cinematographer Chris Frielich, who lit the movie to suit the high-definition camera. The biggest plus point is that it uses no film, and stores the images on the hard drive. This translates to cost savings. The colours are very vibrant. I wanted to prove once and for all that HD movie making is possible. To convince my producers, I even made a short film One Soul on HD, and then displayed the results to them. I am happy now that the results are being applauded in Tamil Nadu, my home.
What has been your work experience before this? Did you assist anyone?
The only thing that helped throughout is my training in the short film format. I have made close to eight short films and toured all over the world to participate in various film festivals. I am glad I am perhaps the only person in the Tamil film industry to have moved from short films to feature films, without having assisted anyone. From now on, producers will pay more attention to talent in Indian short filmmakers. Planning, cost-cutting, writing a story with minimum locations and characters — these were the skills I honed while making short films on shoestring budgets.
Your film played at the recently concluded Shanghai Film festival. How did the Chinese react to a Tamil film?
I was surprised to see all shows for my film were running on full house, no kidding. And this is the same film that was seen in the
Ambattur Rocky theatre in Chennai. I did not edit out any thing for the festival. They gave me a standing ovation and the Q&A session at the end of the film went on forever. They were supportive of a Tamil film especially the one that had struck a chord with them.
As the phone conversation was drawing to a close, Arun mentioned that the film
was almost dropped (as most films are) but with his producers’ help, it was saved in the nick of time. Today, the media is supporting his film in a huge way, which again he is grateful for. “My wife and kids were very supportive. While most of my colleagues spent the weekends with their families, I was holed up at home writing scripts or story boarding my short films. I was a bad husband and
father. But they trusted me, and now they share in my happiness.”
Post-release results are in, Arun says,
and then adds quickly: “I’m reminded of a quote from one of Bharathiyar’s poems: ‘Travel far and wide; gather wealth and wisdom; and bring them home to your country’. It’s my favourite.”
For a guy who turned around Bharathiyar’s stirring call, Achchamillai Achchamillai as the title of his debut Tamil film, it seemed a fitting sign-off.
— The author is a short-film maker who works
outside Mumbai. rsprasanna@gmail.com