Tamil cinema or cinema in general could surprise you when a film with no buzz goes on to achieve critical acclaim. Pogumidam Vegu Thooramillai (PVT) falls under that category. Helmed by debutant filmmaker Micheal K Raja, and starring Karunaas and Vemal in the lead, the film is about two people with contrasting philosophies to life, who go on a road trip.
PVT is an interesting combination of several themes like what it means to be a good samaritan and the fragility of prestige and ego. The director, in this exclusive conversation, elaborates on these themes, and more. It took us by surprise when Micheal revealed that PVT was turned down by scores of producers.
He began by saying, “Like many say, the more you repeat something, the better you become with time. I have the credit of putting three producers to sleep with my narration. I took the script to several other producers, and my pitch improved. I started noticing the point when a producer gets engaged, and my next narration will have that interesting factor as the peg. That was how I was eventually able to materialise the film.” However, he adds that even when certain producers came on board, things couldn’t move beyond a certain extent as they too were just starting out. “Years ago, I had a trailer cut with Kabali Vishwanth as Kumar and Guru Somasundaram as Nalinamoorthy, I had to shelve the film then due to various other reasons,” he says.
When asked if he made slight tweaks in the lead characters to suit Karunaas and Vemal since the script moved from several producers and actors, he says, “Yes, I did make changes to the story and characters. Having said that, I did not make any changes to fit in Vemal or Karunaas in my film.
Since the Nalinamoorthy character is a show stealer, Karunaas immediately took it up. Given the laconic nature of Kumar, which is quite the opposite of other characters played by Vemal, I had to put in extra effort to convince him that his silence would be as powerful as spoken lines. Also, in my personal opinion, silence can give a stronger cinematic moment than dialogues.”
The helping tendency of certain characters and the prestige of others act as the catalysts in developing the conflict in Pogumidam Vegu Thooramillai. On how he arrived at these themes, the director says, “This film is a token of my gratitude to people who have helped me during my tough times. In my so-close-yet-so-far experience, a producer, after greenlighting PVT’s script, backed out of the project just before when he was supposed to give me the advance amount.
By then rejections became so normal for me, but my family had some emergency expenses to make for which that amount would have come in handy, but that was not to be. If not for those who helped me then, I wouldn’t have come this far.”
When asked why Micheal was steadfast in making PVT his first film, he says it was not intentional. “After a slew of rejections, I did pen another script, and an actor was willing to make that film under his production banner; this was a three-year wait. When one of his films failed, he said he could not go ahead with my project.
On dusting off PVT again, I met my producer-to-be, Siva Killari, who was also not ready to start the film right away. But he gave me his word that he would back the film for sure, so I had to wait for another three years for things to fall into place. Maybe it was destined that PVT should be my first film,” he signs off.