Thamizh on choosing Perumal Murugan’s short story for his directorial Seththumaan: 'Wanted to make an impactful film'

Seththumaan, a film festival favourite, had won the Grand Jury Award at the 2021 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The film, which revolves around a grandfather and grandson that perfectly captures the politics around food, is now streaming on SonyLiv. Directed by debutant Thamizh and based on writer Perumal Murugan’s short story, Seththumaan talks about food politics and social mobility. In a chat with Firstpost, Thamizh talks about making the film and what he hopes to achieve. How did you decide to make Tamil author Perumal Murugan’s short story Varugari (Pork Roast) into a film? I was very conscious that I wanted to make a good film for the audience and an independent movie at that. When Malayalam filmmakers were turning short stories into films, I thought why can’t we do something like that? I had read a lot of short stories and when I found Varugari it impressed me a lot. I felt that I could turn this into a movie that I had envisioned and independently also. This movie is about the caste politics of food and how it spills into everyday life into other areas. I wanted to make a movie that will make people think. When I started my career, I don’t think Fandry had been released. But the idea of using a pig as the core of a film I thought would be a challenge, a surprise and a novelty factor too. People think of a pig as a dirty animal but I wanted to portray it as something good. Food politics has existed for ages and I became more conscious of this, it shows how eating beef curry and pig curry has become about caste. I wanted to show that it is food and people have the right and can eat what they desire and not be dictated to on what they can or cannot eat. [caption id=“attachment_9663241” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Still from Seththumaan. Twitter @santosanthosh[/caption] What was most touching about this short story? It was the last image that really disturbed me. ‘Vaaikaalil Saaindha Thaatharai Thaangi pidika Kumarasenai Thavira Angu Veru Yaarum Illai’ (When the grandfather died there was no one else except Kumaresan) It spoke of how Kumaresan (the grandson) was all alone now and he had no one. What will he do now? It was haunting. Perumal Murugan has also penned the screenplay for Seththumaan. Yes, I approached him for permission to make Varugari into a film and then requested him to write the screenplay as well. After meeting me, he too had faith that I could make this into a good film. When adapting the story for the screen, did you make any changes? Yes, I added more elements to it to make it more current and apt for the screen - for instance, the story takes place in the 1980s but I changed it to 2017. I added more shades to Rangan’s character as well. In the short story, Kumaresan has a family but for the film, I turned it into a grandfather-grandson story so it would be more emotionally touching and have more impact on screen. I made it the grandfather’s dream to educate his grandson so he becomes someone to reckon with in life. So does the grandfather’s dream come true or not?

How did director-producer Pa Ranjith come on board? I actually needed someone to help financially in renting a camera. I approached Pa Ranjith for this but he asked me to narrate the story and he liked the film. Neelam Productions then came on board and he suggested some changes to the script but left it completely up to me. I felt his suggestions made sense, like about Ram Nath Kovind, and these were very relevant for more impact. This is your first directorial but you have worked on commercial films like Tanaakaaran and Bachelor. Why did you choose not to debut with a commercial film? I had a commercial script and for about four years tried to get it on floors but nothing happened. Moreover, one needs to make a lot of changes and compromise when making a commercial film to suit the hero, etc. That’s when I realised that instead of wasting time on that I should do an independent film and make the kind of cinema that I want. What’s next for you? I am making another film again with shades of politics but it’s neither parallel cinema nor commercial cinema. I want it to be released in theatres and reach a much wider audience. Latha Srinivasan is a senior journalist based in Chennai. Her passion is entertainment, travel, and dogs. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.