Almost all the reviews talk about your film’s visual appeal, your love for the medium…
I’m an editor at heart. I guess this is why I couldn’t allow the film to linger on one scene. I believe the visual component is crucial to a movie, and will go all out in milking it.
There were several interesting shots. You show a female gangster playing a violin from the centre of a room. You show a kissing scene, and cut to a person sipping the last drops of a Coke. You show a person being killed with an old movie playing in the background.
I’m glad they have all been noticed. I don’t like too many dialogues, and aim to show as much as I can with visuals. I’m a fan of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, and I guess their influence has rubbed off on me at some level. I have tried to avoid some clichés — I show Sampath’s character in pink lighting, something usually used for women.
The item number and the love angle was rather commonplace though.
They were compromises! I didn’t want my producer to suffer a loss by avoiding some of the usual elements. That said, I’ve tried my best to show montages in these song sequences in order to not make them seem like stalling distractions.
Were there any bad reviews at all?
Oh, yes! I read an online review that said people must carry their smart phones to the film so that they could at least play games during the movie!
Do such reviews affect you? They do. I didn’t respond though because when I scrolled down, I saw dozens of comments praising the movie.
With the exception of Atul Kulkarni and Sampath to a certain extent, almost all the actors were unknown.
Yes. I tried narrating the script to a few top actors, and though they liked it, they weren’t sure I had the ability to translate it into a good movie. In fact, one actor tried persuading my producer to hire another director instead.
Producer Sudharshan Vembutty must have had some confidence in you.
Yes, I think he really liked my script. It was non-linear, and since he was exposed to English films, he could relate to it.
You portray the evil woman as someone smoking and doing drugs. Why the stereotype?
It was my first film, as you know, and I didn’t have the time to establish her character. I admit it was a mistake. It just seemed like an easy way to establish in people’s heads that the character was dangerous. Maybe in future, I’ll try to break such stereotypes.
At the end, you make the point that evil does not pay.
Definitely. I guess I believe in karma . If you do 10 evil acts, at least two will come back to hurt you. That said, I don’t like my films to be lessons in morality. My aim is to entertain.
What preparatory work did you have to do to make the film seem real?
We spent quite a few days in north Chennai, learning their dialect. For example, in one scene, we use the word ‘refair’ in place of ‘repair’. I also shot many characters, including the person who plays Burma, with a 5D camera inside a room, to get them to be comfortable with the roles they were playing. It also proved to be good testing ground for us, and we were able to figure out what we wanted when we were shooting.
It must have been quite intimidating to tell accomplished actors like Atul Kulkarni and Sampath what you wanted.
The interesting thing is you don’t really have to tell them much. For scenes where I wanted a bit more, I was confident of my acting ability to tell them what I was looking for. After all, I had spent several days narrating the story to myself in front of a mirror.
So, jump cuts and short scenes are your style.
Definitely. You will find my future films shot in the same style. I targeted urban audiences with this film, but I’m surprised to say that I overheard a few elderly women telling one another that they liked how the violence wasn’t overdone and how there was little vulgarity. Even family audiences liked Burma !
As a fan of Tarantino, it must have come as a disappointment that people found the violence acceptable.
( Laughs ) We couldn’t get a U certificate, despite this apparent lack of shocking violence. Perhaps in later films, I can go all out.
It’s surprising that you titled the movie Burma despite the film not being centred on the protagonist Burma.
That’s another Tarantino influence. The film was originally titled Thirudargal Jaggirathai . However, I liked Burma better, as it sounded crisper and more effective. It sounded something like… Django .
