When it comes to films that are made to give the audience food for thought, the common belief is that with a star driving it forward, it helps drive the message home to the masses more efficiently. But Dayal Padmanabhan, who is trying to make a name for himself in Tamil cinema with his Kannada filmography as his calling card, prefers “actors” over “stars”. When asked if he feels stars don’t meet his criteria for being good performers, he says, “If even a hero comes to me as an actor, I’m happy. But once someone becomes a hero, their process, story choices, expectations, and positioning change.” He explains that he cannot write a story for a star and rather tries to find the right actor for his character while speaking about casting Vetri for his third Tamil directorial, Lakshmikanthan Kolai Vazhakku.
Dayal agrees that his message, like that of capital punishment in this film, will be amplified if a star is the frontrunner. “If a major star chooses material like this, naturally, the reach becomes bigger. Someone like Vijay Sethupathi takes content-driven films and isn’t overly worried about hits or failures,” he acknowledges, while adding that he has no regret in casting Vetri, who fit his vision like a glove. Journalist and actor Rangaraj Pandey, who represents the antithesis of Vetri’s ideology, brings in another perspective. “If a superstar enters a film, sometimes the audience ends up seeing only the star. Dayal sir wants audiences to see the character. He wants people to watch Arivumathi, not Vetri.”
Lakshmikanthan Kolai Vazhakku, set in the early 70s, sees Vetri as Arivumathi, a convict who converses with his jailer, Sivanantham (Rangaraj Pandey), a day before his death sentence. For Vetri, who is identified by his rather introverted demeanour in real life and is even known for playing more subtle characters, the role demands verbosity posed against a silver-tongued journalist. However, Vetri has no qualms about it. “While hearing the script, my first question was who would play the opposite role. When they told me Pandey sir, I immediately felt it was the right casting, because Arivumathi speaks more than Sivanantham,” he says, highlighting the dichotomy between Rangaraj Pandey's on and off-screen persona. “If Arivu speaks 8 pages, the jailer speaks only 2. The contrast is intentional,” he details.
Dayal previously revealed that he chose Rangaraj Pandey for the role because he needed a voice that stands for institutions like the Constitution and found the political journalist perfect for the part. Pandey, however, found little of himself reflected in Sivanantham. He quips, “When I was asked to say a couple of dialogues, I asked Dayal sir, ‘Did you cast me specifically so these lines would come from my mouth?'" indicating that Sivanantham opines what Rangaraj Pandey does not necessarily. Having been in the film field for seven years now, what does he find more difficult, acting or journalism? “Acting. It is exciting because there are rules. Someone draws a boundary within which they ask you to play. You have to perform inside that circle without crossing the line. That challenge is enjoyable,” he declares.
Circling back to ideology, an anti-capital punishment film can explore two distinct angles: if the criminal deserves to be hanged or if the justice system has the right to take one’s life. Dayal says Lakshmikanthan Kolai Vazhakku addresses both. He shares, “At the end of Arivumathi's and Sivanantham’s conversation stands one question – is capital punishment justice, or is it also another form of killing?” While Sivanantham stands for the affirmative, Arivumathi’s life story is an anecdote for the negative. “Whether one ideology convinces the other or not is for the audience to decide,” adds Dayal on the film’s ending. Rangaraj Pandey backs him up, saying, “The goal isn’t to tell people what to think. If someone walks out asking what their viewpoint on the matter is, then the film has done its job. The discussion continuing outside theatres is the real success.”
Vetri, who started his career with 8 Thottakkal in 2017, is close to completing a decade in the industry. However, Lakshmikanthan Kolai Vazhakku only marks his 15th outing, commonly considered less for his experience, as compared to his contemporaries. “I don’t see this as a race. Everyone has their own path,” says the Jiivi actor on whether he feels his journey is slow. “If I wanted to, I could do back-to-back commercial films, too. But I watch a lot of films, and I know what excites me as an audience member and what bores me. I want to make films that hold attention, and ones where nobody gets up and leaves within the first half hour,” he explains.
For Rangaraj Pandey, on the contrary, journalism is his mainstay, so the comparison doesn’t apply. Still, he’s predominantly seen in black and white as an advocate or a judge in LIK and Angikaaram. Otherwise, he is a representative of the system, like a collector in Ka Pae Ranasingam. Pandey, too, is aware of the typecasting. “On my behalf, please tell filmmakers to cast me in fun roles,” he jokes. Letting his hair down further, he cracks up, saying, “Even I can run around trees romancing heroines.” On a serious note, he adds, “Some films happen because of friendships and some because the script naturally comes. After Nerkonda Paarvai, I even thought maybe I shouldn’t wear another coat again. But if it’s a good story, I’m happy.”
On the topic of unexplored characters, Vetri has a few on his bucket list. “I want to play a king or a character in a mythological story,” he says. For all its conversations on ideology, institutions, and performance, Lakshmikanthan Kolai Vazhakku also reflects the choices its makers have made in their own careers, whether it be Dayal choosing actors over stars or Pandey embracing characters over labels. Vetri perhaps sums up that shared outlook best, as he signs off saying, “Even if, fifty years later, people remember just two or three of my films, that would mean more to me than doing a lot of films for the sake of it.”