Director Krishna is a happy man. After eight years, the Sillunu Oru Kaadhal director is back with Aari-Shivada starrer Nedunchalai. And he’s all smiles on the response to the film that hit the screens recently. “Now, I have groomed myself into a director, taking both success and failure in my stride. Nedunchalai has become a hit and I am thankful to the audience. In fact, this film was more challenging than my previous one,” says Krishna.
Krishna, however, says that the eight-year hiatus helped him learn a lot. “It was worth the wait. It taught me a lot of things. I could see a considerable improvement in my writing,” he says.
Krishna says Nedunchalai is based on the lives of real people. “Set in the 80s, the film is about an incident that happened on a highway. It is basically about people who live on the roadside. It would have given the audience a different experience. Thanks to them, our efforts didn’t go waste,” says Krishna, speaking about the fight sequences that were canned in the film.
While Krishna says that the biggest plus of the movie is the live music recording by Sathya for all songs, he also gives credit to Aari and Shivada for their roles.
“I think they were the right choices for the film. Both followed whatever I taught them. For a story of this genre, the girl should be charming and sweet, and Shivada fit the bill. Also, their onscreen chemistry worked well,” says Krishna.
Shooting for the movie, although fun, was challenging. The director recalls how he had to make his story board and visuals ready before searching for the actors. “I did a thorough research about my characters for two years. From making Aari and Shivada ride a moped to roping in Bollywood baddie Prashanth Narayanan, everything was tedious,” he says.
“I had to go to Kerala, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh all alone for the location hunt, but the actual shooting happened in Madurai, Salem, Theni and Delhi,” he says.
Krishna had discussed the film with several writers before filming it and even registered the title with the producer’s council. He says that he believes in making movies that will make the audience feel good. “For me, everything in which money is involved is commercial,” he says.
And to give the audience the worth of their time and money, he believes in making films that are low on sorrow. “We have enough problems around us. When people go to a film with their family, they don’t want to see more misery. They want to be in a different world and that’s exactly the kind of films I want to make,” says Krishna.
The shooting for his next project, which is a gangster-based plot, is set to start in May. From a humble highway life to a thriller, the change is striking. But Krishna, who is a huge Maniratnam fan, wants just that. He says he doesn’t want himself to be stereotyped.