CHENNAI : Writer-director Shankar Dayal N, who is best known for helming Karthi’s political satire, Saguni, is coming back to the genre with Kuzhanthaigal Munnetra Kazhagam (KMK). While popular comedians like Yogi Babu and Senthil are part of the cast, Shankar insists that KMK revolves around children. “The kids are the real stars in the film. It is probably the one and only film that stars children and discusses politics,” says the director.
Shankar further explains, “In the film, the actions of the children aren’t directly related to politics, but whatever they do affects the goings-on.” According to the writer-director, KMK is not the kind of film that derives its humour from stereotyping its comedians. “There is a tendency to portray such veterans as buffoonish characters in political films, but this is not the case with Kuzhanthaigal Munnetra Kazhagam. They are treated with a lot of dignity here.”
A political film often has a tendency to lean towards a particular party or an ideology, but Shankar says that his film goes beyond such generic elements. “The film does not take any political stance or get into the grey area of politics. Without propagating political hatred or showing any violence, the film merely tells the audience that there is no malaise in politics. Our society does not ask children to embrace politics from a young age; it often tells them to study to become engineers and doctors, but why not politics? After all, our great leaders like Gandhi and Ambedkar had that fire from such a young age,” says Shankar.
Apart from Yogi Babu and Senthil, the film also stars Lizzie Antony, Saravanan, Subbu Panchu, Chitra Lakshmanan, and the late Mayilsamy. On the technical front, the film has cinematography by J Laxman Kumar (Poda Podi) and editing by Richard Kevin (Vikram Vedha). The band Shankar’s Saadhaga Paravaigal will be making their feature film debut by composing the music for the film.
The director is also producing KMK, along with Arunkumar Sammantham, under the Meenakshi Amman Movies production banner. The film is in its final stages and the makers are aiming for a summer release.