The hustle and bustle vegetable market is the place where all the action unfolds in the morning, and also in debutant director Bala Murugan's Thangaradham, releasing this Friday. Bala says he went with his gut feeling when, pained at the ordeal of the ones eking out a living in extremely difficult circumstances, he decided to bring to light the sufferings of two groups of people.

The title of his film is a name of one of the vehicles used to transport vegetables to the market from the nearby village of Ottanchatiram. A resident of Ottanchatiram (between Palani and Dindigul) himself, the director says he has been a mute witness to the daily bout of fights between rival groups in the past. "At the end of the day, the fight was essentially over that elusive one square meal, which made it all the more painful," he says.

After finding a willing producer in CM Varghese, the director says that once he settled on Tubelight-fame Aditi Krishna as the lead girl, he had to do a fair bit of running to find his protagonist. "I needed a rugged face who lives for the day with no care for the morrow. Vetri, who played the villain role in Strawberry with a lot of conviction, has essayed the difficult role with stunning ease," says Bala.

"I am a huge fan of K Bhagyaraj and am in awe of his ability to reach the masses. Taking the cue from him, I have done my best to make a film packaged with both action and comedy that will appeal to the family audience," he concludes.