PS Mithran, who gave us Irumbu Thirai, one of the most successful films of last year, is back, this time with a vigilante film, Hero, which points out the flaws in the educational system. He says the biggest challenge of pulling off the film wasn’t the genre, but the lack of time. “Irumbu Thirai was in the making for a really long period, because of Vishal’s commitments to Nadigar Sangam and TFPC, and film industry strikes. I didn’t see it as a setback and used the period to upgrade my film, but in the case of Hero, it was the opposite. We announced the release date as December 20 even while shooting and had to quicken every process to aid its timely release.”
He adds that every film has a better version lying on the edit table and a creator will be able to bring that out if he has that breathing space. “ I always found a better version for Irumbu Thirai when I saw the rushes. But in Hero, we hardly had any time to rest, let alone experiment. The shoot was wrapped on November 24th and I only had 21 days to come up with the final cut. I had a single chance to bring out the best version of my film.”
Excerpts from the conversation:
You mentioned that the idea for Irumbu Thirai began when a friend of yours lost forty thousand rupees from his bank account. What is the starting point of Hero?
It was an interview. While promoting Irumbu Thirai, an inane question of an anchor about internet education got me furious and I went on a rant. A series of thoughts got aligned in my mind during the outburst, and after the interview, I began to think a lot about our educational system and how it is making people selfish, under the disguise of making them competitive. This thought evolved into Hero. The ‘superhero’ factor got added organically during the scripting process.
Looking macroscopically, a cyber-thriller and a superhero film, seem to be out-of-the-ordinary ideas. Do I sense a pattern?
Maybe. As a child, I didn’t have a clear vision. I just fell in love with films, and never thought I would end up making one. As I grew up, I began dreaming about making a film. I fell in love with those dreams and started romanticising failures hypothetically thinking, “Naan mattum periya filmmaker-a irundhen na epdi panni irupen theriyuma?” and I strongly felt that I would end my life dreaming. I never hoped to be a director and deliver a hit.I don’t have a process, there is no method to my madness. Appo appo enna thonudho pannittu poiduven.
Wasn’t it a challenge to fit Sivakarthikeyan, known for his light-hearted entertainers, into a superhero film?
Most of us didn’t know who Tobey Maguire was when he acted in Spider-Man, but we accepted him instantly. I believe the equation is pretty much the same here. No matter what the image of an actor is, what he can do within the film’s universe is all that matters. Sivakarthikeyan is a hardworking and talented actor, who can pull off emotions effortlessly. I am afraid Tamil cinema has only kept him confined to a certain kind of role, and I sincerely believe his full potential as an actor is yet to be explored.
You had mentioned in several instances that you are a fan of Mysskin. Any takeaways from his superhero film, Mugamoodi?
To be honest, Mugamoodi is one of my least favourite works of Mysskin. I felt it was not grounded properly. All his films have a Pan-Asian influence, and it felt it was a bit of an overdose in that film and made me lose my emotional connect with it. I am a huge advocate of emotional connection. Only then can it become an experience. I feel it is my duty as a filmmaker to give audiences that through my films.
The most fascinating part of any superhero film is the suit of the hero. Can you share the ideation that went behind it?
‘We stumbled upon everything’ is the right way to put it. Initially, I had no idea how the superhero costume would look. When I had no vision about that, I had to borrow the visions of my art director, cinematographer and costume designer. For instance, the shuriken wasn’t a part of the costume in the first place.
The designer first came up with a logo of Hero, and we thought of affixing it to the suit near the chest. But Dilip Subbarayan advised me to remove it from the costume as it was too sharp and it could get people bleeding during stunts. But I was persistent to incorporate it in some way. He lost his cool and threw it on the floor saying, “Ipdi sharp-a kuththitu nikudhu... idha epdi costume suit la veikradhu?” I got curious on seeing this and decided to use it as a weapon.
The mask was the only thing I was very particular about. Many complained that Sivakarthikeyan mask potalum Sivakarthikeyan madhri dhaan irukaru. My reply to them is, “Yes, it is SK, but he is not wearing it to hide his identity. It is an identity and symbol on its own.” We know that Tony Star is Iron Man, but still, he chooses to cover his face, as it is a symbol.
Why do you think there aren’t many superhero or vigilante franchises in India?
Sequels arise when people fall in love with a character like Spider-Man, James Bond or Breaking Bad’s Walter White. You can fit in any actor into these roles. But in India, the scenario is the inverse, people here fall in love with the actors. At the end of the day, it becomes a Rajini sir padam, Vijay sir padam or SK padam. While there are franchise films in Hollywood like Spider-Man 1 and Spider-Man 2, we are making Thala 59 and Thalapathy 65.
In both your films, the hero has flaws and the heroine has a voice, which isn’t the case in most films.
All of us make mistakes. Thappu pannaadha hero va, one arm distance la dhaan vechipaanga audience. According to me, a hero realising the flaws in his ideology or behaviour is the most effective form of drama in films.As far as the heroines are considered, I design their character based on the type of girls I would fall in love with. I used to be a writer who wrote a lot of women-centric scripts, probably because of my mom. She is an influential and strong-willed person. I guess that influences me when I write my female leads.
You have always expressed your love for Yuvan’s music. The composer had mentioned that Hero is his most soul-satisfying soundtrack.
When I was a nobody, with no hope or vision in life, the only best friend I had was Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music. It was the beacon I held on to, to pass the difficult phases of my life. I never dreamt of meeting him. Working with him in Irumbu Thirai was an achievement, but hearing him say that Hero gave him soul-satisfaction, is the best moment of my life.
Chinmayi, who has been facing backlash for supporting the MeToo movement is back to voicing Tamil films after a year with Hero.
Chinmayi was the right fit for the film. If it is right for the film, I will fight to any extent; that’s my norm. It definitely demanded a battle, but I was willing to fight it.
Will Hero return?
I always end my film with an open end. Hit aaiduchu na easy characters already iruku. Hit aagala na vera padam pannittu poiduven. My consciousness doesn’t allow me to give conclusions to the social problems I discussed in it. I want it to be open. When I don’t give a solution, it makes the audience contemplate more and initiate a behavioural change. This pattern always paves the way for a sequel.