Pradeep Krishnamoorthy: Kabadadaari is more than its twist

With Vijay’s Master bringing people back to theatres, Pradeep Krishnamoorthy is feeling quite hopeful about his third directorial venture, Kabadadaari, starring Sibi Sathyaraj, Nandita Swetha, Nasser, and Jayaprakash. “I wanted only a theatrical release for Kabadadaari and I am glad Vijay sir's Master has turned out to be a gamechanger for the industry, which has been suffering for the past one year. They have brought back people to the theatre,” says the director in a freewheeling chat.

Looking at his three films thus far - Saithan, Sathya, and Kabadadaari - one might assume Pradeep gravitates towards suspense thrillers, but the director says otherwise. “I think such an image, if there is one, is accidental. It just so happened that all my films so far have been thrillers. Also, I feel all films, irrespective of the genre, are thrillers in a way. The what-next factor is what keeps the audience glued to the screen. I think even a romantic film is a thriller that way. I only look for engrossing scripts; the genre doesn’t matter.”

Kabadadaari, which is based on the Kannada hit Kavaludaari, is Pradeep's second remake. He previously remade the Telugu thriller Kshanam as Sathya. Both the originals worked predominantly because of the twists in the end. Considering many would have already seen the fairly popular originals, does it bother him to not have the proverbial ace up his sleeve? “Kabadadaari is more than its twist. Of course, we have retained the good things. I mean, why fix something that isn't broken? But we have made significant changes for our audience. In fact, we have simultaneously remade the film in Telugu as Kapatadhaari with Sumanth and you can find huge differences even between the Tamil and Telugu versions.” When probed about these ‘differences’, he explains, “It varies even at the dialogue level. A line from Sibi will land differently in comparison to the same coming from Sumanth. So, you have to work around such sensibilities.”

For Pradeep, Kabadadaari has been an experience unlike his previous ventures because he was the last one to join the crew. “Producer Dhananjayan and Sibi had already put together this project, and I came into the picture later. However, I was given complete freedom to make the changes I wanted.”

The upcoming film marks the second collaboration of Pradeep and Sibi Sathyaraj. About working with the actor again, the director says, “We became good friends during Sathya, which was Sibi’s own production. He thought he already knew what I wanted for a film, so I had to remind him to not repeat the same thing we did with Sathya. I told him, ‘Dhayavu senju Sathya va marandhudunga’. (laughs) Sibi has a lot of unexplored potential. He has the same ‘nakkal’ that we have seen in his father Sathyaraj.”

On a concluding note, Pradeep reveals he has already signed his next film, based on his own script, and tells us it will take off soon after Kabadadaari’s release. “The film should have gone on floors way earlier, but Kabadadaari was delayed because of the pandemic. We start each film thinking it would be done in three or four months, but a year goes by before you even realise it.”