Chekka Chivantha Vaanam stunt choreographer Dhilip Subbarayan: Working with Mani Ratnam is like a film tutorial

Dhilip Subbarayan’s dad Super Subbarayan is one of the veteran stunt choreographers of South Indian cinema. He is the man behind many cult classics including Mani Ratnam’s Thalapathi and Nayagan. Now, Dhilip himself is working with the maverick filmmaker in his upcoming film, Chekka Chivantha Vaanam.

“I was supposed to work with Mani Ratnam sir long back but because of my prior commitments, I had to opt out of those films. Luckily, everything fell in place for Chekka Chivantha Vaanam. Mani Ratnam sir is like a film tutorial that he is very clear about each and every craft in cinema. I have the habit of listening to the full script so even in the narration stage, Mani sir explained the stunt choreography style needed for the film. After the script narration, I gave two to three options to Mani sir and he only picked the best ones. After a long time in Tamil cinema, audiences would be watching action sequences involving four leading actors and all of them have given their best for the film”, says Dhilip.

[caption id=“attachment_4706501” align=“alignnone” width=“824”] Dhilip Subbarayan. Image via Facebook[/caption] Though Dhilip comes from a film background, his family strictly told him to not enter cinema industry. “Actually, I wanted to become a pilot but after seeing the humongous hard work behind each and every scene in Thalapathy Vijay’s Tamizhan, I decided that film industry is my destination. Though I learned martial arts, I made sure to get proper training in script writing and filmmaking process. Pushkar-Gayathri, directors of Vikram Vedha, were actually my college project coordinators. Impressed with my creative project in college, they offered me the chance to choreograph stunts in Oram Po but due to the restrictions in the stunt union, I had to only work as an action assistant”, recalls Dhilip on his entry into the film industry. Dhilip’s journey with Pushkar-Gayathri continued as he choreographed all the action sequences in their career best Vikram Vedha. Of course, Dhilip is not only known for realistic action films like Vikram Vedha, Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru, and Thani Oruvan, he has also done proper mainstream commercial films including Vijay’s Theri, Karthi’s Komban and also working on Thala Ajith’s upcoming action potboiler film Viswasam. “Today, audiences are very clear that they easily predict the next scene. As far as I know, current generation audiences want realistic stunts. If the script demands fantasy elements, audiences are ready to accept over the top action sequences. Even in mainstream commercial films, I try to follow live stunts without any body double. For example, in Theri, we only used two rope shots. I worked with Vijay sir in Theri, Jilla and Puli but never used dupe for him in action sequences. Ajith sir is another actor who refuses body double; he actually broke a glass on his own in Amarkalam and almost all the leading actors are thorough professionals in action. As the technology has been improved a lot, we also provide all the safety measures. If I’m unable to provide a safe zone to my hero and stunt team, I would clearly convey to my director that we can’t execute the required action sequence and should only think of an alternative”, says Dhilip. Talking about his next biggie Viswasam, Dhilip says “I’m a big fan of director Siva’s Siruthai which had two attractive elements — the emotion of a dad and powerful cop seeking vengeance. In Viswasam too, you would notice similar treatment, Siva has brilliantly sketched the screenplay and we have already completed the first action sequence in the film, which will also have six more sequences. As said earlier, stunts in Viswasam will be realistic and emotional”. Though Kenny Bates of Pearl Harbor and Transformers fame has choreographed the foreign action sequences in Saaho — starring Baahubali star Prabhas, Dhilip will take care of stunts which take place in India. “Yes, the talks are on and I will be joining the team from August. The entire team of Saaho are working hard to deliver a never-seen-before magnum opus action film. I’m looking forward to joining them soon”, says Dhilip, who has also acted in a few Tamil films including the National Award winning Aaranya Kaandam.

Happy to recieve the 2017 #VikatanAwards for the 2nd time!
Best Stunts for the movie #TheeranAdhigaaramOndru ✨🙏🏼😃 pic.twitter.com/Ejs7A8sudG

— Dhilip Subbarayan (@dhilipaction) January 14, 2018

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Dhilip is one of the very few young stunt choreographers who got the opportunity to work with Rajinikanth. “I reiterate this again, even with Superstar, we didn’t use any body double. Ranjith clearly told me that Kaala should not react much until his own guy Beemji gets murdered and in the particular portion, we shot the rain fight sequence. Rajinikanth sir was also excited in performing all the action sequences on his own”, says Dhilip, who is happy about the Indian Government’s recognition for stunt choreographers but he also wants his seniors to be honoured. “Peter Hein master recently won National Award for Puli Murugan. I’m really happy that our Government has recognized our craft but they should also honour veteran stunt choreographers who are responsible for all the memorable action films in the past. Today, we got the technology to pull off all the risky stunt scenes but senior stunt choreographers have given their heart and soul to the film industry; they should be recommended for civilian honours like Padmashri”, signs off Dhilip.