Vedhamanavan: A judge turns director

For septuagenarian Justice Pugazhendi, it’s a dream come true to have one of his 22 novels be made into a film, Vedhamanavan, that’s getting released this Friday. The writer has also directed and produced the film. “My three assistant directors helped a lot, and once I got a hang of things, I found making a film quite easy to negotiate,” he says. The film is about the ‘true story of a murderer and his 17 victims’, he says. “During my tenure as a judge in Virudhachalam, I gave this man the death sentence,” remembers Pugazhendi. “I’m still shocked about how indifferent he was to his crimes.” Handing out a death sentence weighed on his mind for a long time, he says. “What if I’d given him the benefit of doubt? Would society have accepted him, if he got reformed?” It is this question that made him come up with a feature film. Some cinematic liberties have been taken with the story, he adds. “The fate of the criminal is quite different in the film.”

Debutants Manojayanth and model Urvashi Joshi play the lead roles, with Delhi Ganesh and Benjamin providing support. The director is quite thrilled about the film’s music by Soundaryan. “The idea of a tormented person looking for a new lease of life is quite moving. The music conveys this emotion beautifully,” he says. While this judge may have decided the fate of many a criminal, he knows that as a director, the fate of the film isn’t in his hands. “I’ll let the audience pass their verdict.”