Sports drama (‘Chennai 28’), one-night thriller (‘Saroja’), romantic comedy (‘Goa’), heist thriller (‘Mankatha’), and a horror comedy (‘Mass’) — Venkat Prabhu deals with genres like a kid in a toy shop, picking and playing with every toy at a whim. However, with ‘The Greatest of All Time’, he has combined the quintessential Tamil ‘masala’ genre with a spy thriller. With Vijay playing a special agent in ‘GOAT’, we probe into Venkat Prabhu’s favourite spy films. “Of course, ‘Mission: Impossible’ would be on top of the list,” says the director.
When asked to choose one film from the franchise, he picks the first Mission: Impossible (1996) and elaborates, “That was a proper introduction to the franchise. The rest of the franchise kept building up in scale, with their elaborate set pieces but the first film had amazing writing. It had a lot of twists and turns and it kept the audience guessing as to who would backstab who.” He then goes on to add films like ‘The International’ (2009), ‘Casino Royale’ (2006) and ‘The Day of the Jackal’ (1973) to the list. Even though Venkat Prabhu adds ‘Casino Royale’ to the list, his favourite James Bond remains to be Roger Moore. He says, “As a child of the 70s and 80s, I grew up watching Roger Moore’s Bond films and he also had the perfect blend of campiness and action,” an element you could spot in the director’s films as well.
Having grown up as an unabashed fan of big-budget Hollywood action films, Venkat Prabhu is aware of the need for extravagant action set pieces. Perhaps that explains the intense action sequences in ‘GOAT’, which get progressively grander as the story travels from Russia to Thailand and back to Chennai again. Of all the action set pieces in the film, Venkat Prabhu picks the Chepauk stadium fight sequence in the climax as his favourite. He says it is for both the action and story reasons.
“This was the biggest and most complicated action set piece in the film. We shot it in a lot of different locations and had to blend all of it seamlessly, to make it appear as if it is happening at the same location,” says the director. According to Venkat Prabhu, the complexities involved in creating a convincing narrative were not any easier in the writing. He says, “I enjoy writing twists and turns because I like surprising the audience. No matter how much they speculate, I try to stay a step ahead. It is a fun challenge.”
Cognizant of all the tropes and cliches of a spy-thriller, Venkat Prabhu still designed ‘GOAT’ as a quintessential Tamil commercial film. “The spy thriller aspect of it was just the foundation and I wanted to build an old-school Tamil masala film on top of that because I wanted our fans to enjoy it thoroughly. That’s why I added a lot of dance-worthy songs in the film,” he says, and then adds, “Vijay sir’s fanbase extends from people of age 6 to 60. I wanted to entertain all of them. In ‘Maanaadu’, I only had one dance number and the film could still work without that song because it was focused on its genre. ‘GOAT’ is a celebration of Vijay sir and how we all enjoyed his acting, comedy, and dance skills for all these decades. Prashanth sir and Prabhu Deva master were all really good dancers and I wanted them all to shake a leg together because this is a rare moment.”
‘I would love to do a monster film next’
While it was easy to get Prashanth and Prabhu Deva on board, it took a bit of convincing for Mohan, says the director. “It has been a while since Mohan sir appeared on screen. So, it took him 2-3 days to say yes.” On the choice to cast Mohan in a negative role, Venkat Prabhu points to the 1984 film, Nooravathu Naal, where Mohan plays a serial killer, as his inspiration. “I am a very big fan of the film and I have been trying to cast him in my films for a long time. Interestingly, Nooravathu Naal also has Vijayakanth sir,” he smiles.
As the scale and concepts of his films grow larger, Venkat Prabhu reflects on going back to make a smaller, more personal film like Chennai 600028. “I definitely want to do a film about boy-next-door, relatable characters again.” However, after years of being in the limelight, would he still be able to write relatable characters? “I am probably influenced by the film industry a lot these days. But, I’ve always tried to make the kind of films I would like, in a way that I want to.”
On how he selects the kind of films he would want to make next, the director says, “I like to experiment and I try to present every one of my films in a different way. The story should excite me first, only then I get into it.” After the story is locked, Venkat Prabhu discusses it with his team of writers and assistant directors. “At first, I come up with the original idea but I am not a solitary writer. I like discussing the story and formalising the structure. And then we get everything on paper. Maanaadu took me eight months to write while GOAT took me just two-and-a-half months to write,” he says.
While GOAT is a complete ode to Tamil commercial films, Venkat Prabhu is also someone who is known for exploring high-concept and diverse genres. On the kind of films he would like to do next, he says, “Even Hollywood is not making films for kids anymore. You might point at superhero films but they are not kids films in the way a film like Goonies is. Superhero films might have started as a genre for kids but now they are being made to satisfy all kinds of audiences. I think Ready Player One came close to what I am talking about, in recent times.”
The director reveals he is excited to explore ideas like Virtual Reality in a film. He had already explored the concept of a digital presence in his segment titled Logam, in the Prime Video anthology series Kutty Story. However, according to him, he was merely testing the waters with the low-budget anthology short and he has a grander vision involving the technology. Venkat Prabhu then adds, “ I am a big fan of Disney and Pixar, so I would love to do an animation film. Also, I would love to do a monster film like Godzilla or Cloverfield next. There have been a lot of technological advancements in the film industry recently, imagine a giant monster destroying Chennai,” he signs off with a smile.