Tamizh Padam 2: I've been told my film is one long meme and I'm proud of it, says director Amudhan

CS Amudhan is credited as the filmmaker to introduce Tamil audiences to the spoof genre with his 2010 runaway hit Tamizh Padam, which went on to become a cult classic. Eight years later, Amudhan is back with Tamizh Padam 2, which has already emerged as a blockbuster and stunned the trade with its reception. In an exclusive chat with Firstpost, Amudhan opens up on the challenge of writing a spoof comedy, how he chose scenes and films to parody, and his plans for Tamizh Padam 3. [caption id=“attachment_4772141” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Shiva in Tamizh Padam 2. Image from Twitter@Vijayannafan5[/caption] Tamizh Padam 2, which hit the screens on 13 July, has stirred up a box office storm with nearly Rs 17 crore gross in Tamil Nadu (and still counting). With the film running to packed houses all over, Amudhan himself is surprised with the tremendous response. “We knew the film will do well. But honestly, the scale on which the film’s been performing is totally unexpected, we didn’t see it coming. We are quite happy with the numbers. The fact that the content has been able to bring this kind of response makes it even more special, because such numbers are usually generated by big star vehicles. We’re thrilled that the content has been able to draw audiences.” The film was riding high on hype ever since the day the it was launched. The posters and promos amplified the overall expectations. Talking about writing the second part of the franchise, Amudhan said the biggest challenge was to surprise audiences all over again. “When the first part released, Tamil audiences weren’t familiar with the spoof genre and it worked for us as audiences didn’t know what to expect from the film. The challenge this time was to surprise them again, and that’s why we included the period portion and the foreign segment. Nobody saw it coming and it worked for us,” explained Amudhan. Elaborating more on the writing process and how he chose what scenes and films to parody, Amudhan said: “Sometimes, we wrote a scene based on some idea we already had in mind. There were also occasions where we let popular scenes from recent Tamil films give us inspiration to write. For instance, the Vivegam climax scene, which we knew was easy to recreate and will connect with the audiences, inspired the climax of our film.” The writing process also included drawing upon popular memes on Tamil cinema. “I’ve been told by people that my film is one long meme and I’m quite proud of it. It takes a lot of creativity and sense of humour to create memes, and the meme creators of Tamil cinema are extremely talented. Some of the memes on Tamil cinema are absolutely hilarious, and we drew upon them while writing some scenes.” Amudhan said he didn’t have any reservations while writing Tamizh Padam 2. “Once you decide to make a spoof film, you can’t restrict yourself. You need to write with conviction. I believe audiences were aware of what we were doing. If they were offended by our style of parodying, the film wouldn’t have gotten this kind of response. The numbers are proof to the fact that people have loved the film.” Does the phenomenal success of Tamizh Padam 2 assure that the third part of the franchise is on the cards? “It’s too early to even talk about it. Even if I make Tamizh Padam 3, it definitely won’t happen in the next two years as I have other plans.” Amudhan also confirmed that his second film Rendavathu Padam, which has been in the pipeline for a long time, is most likely to find a release soon. “Talks are on to bring it out very soon,” he signs off.