Lingusamy on Sandakozhi 2: Will begin work will on an engaging plot for third part of franchise soon

In his seventeen-year-long, director Lingusamy has delivered unexpected blockbusters like Run, Sandakozhi, and Paiyaa which gave Madhavan, Vishal, and Karthi the image of a mass-action hero. At the same time, his most anticipated films, including Ji, featuring Ajith, Vikram’s Bheema, and Suriya’s Anjaan were colossal flops at the box office. Talking about his massive hits and failures, Lingusamy says “I will not blame the audience. They always embrace good cinema and if our product lives up to the expectations, they celebrate it. Yes, my previous film (Anjaan) was a big blow to me and I’m solely responsible for the failure. Fulfilling the expectations of our audiences is the biggest challenge and if we do that, success is ours”. [caption id=“attachment_5403251” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from Sandakozhi 2. Image via Twitter/@Sri50[/caption] Success and failure of a film are also based on the overall energy of the crew, says Lingusamy.  “A lot of things decide the final output of the film—if the hero or producer doubts our conviction, we might miss the target. But I believe that in Sandakozhi 2, my producer and hero Vishal, my actors and technical crew gave their best. I think we didn’t spoil the respect we had earned with the original.” Heaping praise on Vishal, the director says “Vishal gave me everything I wanted. Even in a normal scene, we placed ten junior artists and the entire film was shot in a festive mood. As an actor too, Vishal has improved a lot. My team was stunned by his ability to single-handedly hold the film.” Lingusamy’s biggest challenge in the sequel is to find the right replacement for Meera Jasmine: “Meera Jasmine accidentally asked me to narrate the story of Sandakozhi and voluntarily came on board. During the shoot, I told her that she would go places like legendary actress Savithri. Coincidentally, I got Keerthy Suresh, the new age Savithri for the sequel whose portion in Sandakozhi 2 is a major highlight. She also got an impressive script in hand and it is one of the top fifteen stories I’ve heard in my career. Keerthy once told me that she became an actress to get an award for her mother Menaka, who missed the National Award due to internal politics. I think Keerthy will win several awards both as an actor and director”, says Lingusamy, while also lauding Varalakshmi, the antagonist in Sandakozhi 2. “I couldn’t imagine another actress for her role,” he adds. For Sandakozhi 2, Lingusamy and Vishal had initially thought of roping in big cinematographers like PC Sreeram, Ravi Varman and Ramji before signing Shakthi. “After watching the output, our team felt that Shakthi’s work was on par with all these leading cinematographers. After working with me in Paiyaa, Madhie went on to become the most sought-after cinematographer in Telugu. He is currently busy with the magnum opus Saaho. I’m sure Shakthi will also get busy with many big-budget films after Sandakozhi 2.” Talking about Rajkiran who plays Vishal’s father in Sandakozhi 2, Lingu says “Rajkiran never saw world classics like Bicycle Thieves and Seven Samurai but he is a born actor. Even acting schools should learn from his methodology. While working with him in the first part, I was intimated by his presence on the sets but now, we have become friends”. The director also has plans for Sandakozhi 3. “I told my writer, SR Ramakrishnan, that unlike Sandakozhi 2, we can’t wait for thirteen years. We will write another engaging plot for the third part of the film which will commence soon”, signs off the director.