Director Manimaran’s first film Pugazh, which features Jai and Surabhi in the lead, has an interesting plot that has seldom been explored before. “Pugazh will be all about the lifestyle of boys in a small town,” explains Manimaran, a former associate of director Vetrimaran.
“Boys in small towns often visit playgrounds regularly. In my story too, the protagonists meet at a playground every day. However, a political party wants to usurp this playground, and there is a tug of war between the boys and the political party,” he says.
But what he says next shows the film’s uniqueness and gives an impression that the story will not be predictable. “Usually, when land sharks occupy such land in a city, people react in different ways. But in a small town, as everybody knows everybody else, they look to visit the councillors and elected representatives to state their problem,” says Manimaran.
The film will highlight the compulsions and pressures under which even elected representatives like councillors work. “We blame elected representatives but seldom understand their difficulties. This film showcases their problems too,” he says.
The film will also focus on the issue of towns and cities not having enough playgrounds for youngsters. Making a film on these lines wouldn’t be possible unless one has witnessed such an incident.
Manimaran says, “My inspiration for this film is an incident that happened in a friend’s life long ago. When it happened, I was not aware of how things work in politics. A political party made a friend of mine contest at a councillor’s election. He won. What happened next inspired me to come up with the story of this film.”
Ayngaran has acquired the distribution rights and is all set to release the film, which is presented by Varun Manian, on March 18.
The director is full of praise for the film’s cameraman, Velraj, who has already made a name for himself as a director with Vellai Illa Pattathari (2014) and Thangamagan (2015).
“Velraj was a huge support to me while making this film. We had to shoot in crowded places. But no matter how big the crowd was, he would perfectly capture the essence of the scene if you stated clearly what you wanted. His confidence is growing phenomenally with each film,” says Manimaran.