SP Muthuraman: Rajini is a perfectionist, Kamal Haasan is a Sakalakala Vallavan 

Madras and cinema are inseparable emotions. With the city recently turning 384, we spoke to director SP Muthuraman (SPM), one of the Godfathers of commercial cinema, as a part of Madras Memories, a series of events and activities conducted for Madras Week celebrations by The New Indian Express. The conversation happened right after walking through the AVM heritage museum, and what better place to start a conversation with SPM? "Back in those days, we didn't have film institutes, we only had AVM Studio and AV Meiyappan sir to train us. He was our principal, his sons Murugan, Kumaran and Saravanan, were our HODs, and directors like AC Tirulokchandar were our lecturers," says a proud SPM as he sits next to the iconic AVM logo. The veteran who has delivered innumerable hits under the banner for decades, states that the uncompromising nature of his mentor Meiyappan taught him quality control. "He always strived for perfection. If he feels a scene is not to the mark, he would ask the director to reshoot it the very next day. He was both the best director and critic, and his judgments never went wrong. Thanks to him, we got to learn cinema hands-on. Every reshoot I was part of as an assistant director taught me what not to do when I started making films on my own."

Aside from his track record of blockbusters, SPM was known for his stunning turnaround time. The director, who had an average of five releases a year during his prime, took a lot of people by surprise when he released Sakalakala Vallavan with Kamal Haasan and Engeyo Ketta Kural with Rajinikanth on the same date, 14th August, 1982. "Even now, I don't consider that as an impossible feat. I was able to make so many films over the years because of the planning. Until the bound script was ready, we wouldn't even announce the film. Ample time for pre-production ensured we were able to cast the right actors, get the right locations, schedule the perfect call sheet, have a clear prediction of the budget, and realise the film would break-even even before shooting," says SPM, who was also known as Minimum Guarantee Muthuraman for his efficiency and vision. "I had a strong technical team, and every member was in sync with my vision. So it was easy for me to switch between multiple films at the same time. There were times when we shot the first half of the day with Rajini and quickly shifted to another set to shoot a different film with Kamal."  

Taking full responsibility for failures and giving full credit to his team for the success made Muthuraman one of the most respected filmmakers in Indian cinema. "A director is the captain of the ship. Even though a hundred people work together for a film, we are the ones taking the final call. So it is rightfully our responsibility to deal with a failure alone. I have had my fair share of failures, but I always make it a point to learn from my missteps. I have never made the same mistake twice," says Muthuraman.

Known for his collaborations with Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, it is quite fascinating to observe how the filmmaker tapped into the various facets of these superstars and made films in a variety of genres.  "I used to sit with the scriptwriters and make a list of roles Rajini or Kamal has played in both other director films and mine, and also make note of the genres and tropes we have experimented so far to avoid repetition. Since this was done even before they began the script, it was easy for us to serve a variety of content to the audience in an engaging manner," says SPM, reiterating that the need for a well-written script. "Satti la irundha dhaan agappai la varum. Script la irundha dhaan scene la varum. When the script is so detailed and unique, a director need not fear being stereotyped. Nowadays, I am shocked to hear that a fair share of films go on floors before even completing the script. Finishing the screenplay and dialogues on the shooting location is a disgrace. It is disheartening to see young directors take pride in it. It's really unfortunate that they don't understand the time, money and energy they can save by planning." Explaining how much planning helps in the execution, SPM takes the example of his Tamil-Kannada bilingual Priya, which was shot in just 26 days. "Priya was shot in live locations, across three countries: Singapore, Malaysia, and China. Despite these challenges, we wrapped the shoot within a month because of in-depth planning. My assistants and I took a trip to all three countries and got permission from the necessary government agencies, way ahead of the shooting, and during our recce, we parallelly calculated the time it would take to complete the shoot in each of the locations. Coming from an editing background, I have the habit of cutting down the excess dialogue from the script paper and marking the shots for each sequence instead of waiting for the day of the shoot. Both these practices worked greatly in favour of us and we wrapped the film a few days ahead of our plan."

Even though Muthuraman aspired to become a screenwriter when he entered AVM, fate had other plans and he ended up working as an assistant editor and assistant director, before his debut as a filmmaker. Quite opposite to his initial wish, all his directorials were written by other screenwriters. But he has no qualms about it. "I was blessed with the best set of writers. The stalwarts Mahendran, Visu, and Panchu Arunachalam, who majorly wrote for my films always gave me their best and I never had second thoughts about their work. I was also constantly watching out for the right novels that could be adapted to the silver screen. Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri, Moham Muppathu Varsham, Oru Manidhanin Kadhai and Priya are adaptations. The script writer's job is even easier when we adapt novels as they inherently have a distinctive signature. Because of all these factors, I never missed writing my own films. Instead, I was completely immersed in direction."
 
The octogenarian who has delivered the biggest hits of both Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth calls them his two eyes. "They love me equally and used to tease me saying that I favour one over the other. I always adore the camaraderie they share despite being superstars." He calls Rajini a perfectionist who never stopped till he gave his best. "While shooting an emotional scene for Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai, I was about to call it a day as the time was 9 pm already. But Rajini intervened and requested me to continue the shoot saying that he was into the skin of the character and the magic might not happen the next day. I agreed and continued the shoot. As promised Rajini aced the scene and we finally wrapped around 2 am. Even during those wee hours, he was curious to know my reaction. He called me and asked if I was satisfied with the output and was relieved only when I said yes. An actor, a star like him need not take so much stress about a scene, but this is what makes him a superstar." On the other hand, he calls Kamal Haasan, a real-life Sakalakala Vallavan, who could have delivered commercial hits without breaking a sweat but instead chose substance over money. "Even though we delivered an industry hit with Sakalakala Vallavan, he always tells me that he loves our Oru Oodhappu Kan Simittugiradhu more. He wasn't excited by commercial films. But I wanted to break the idea that his films aren't viable in B and C centres and show his capabilities to the trade circles. So I particularly wanted the script to bring out all his skills, starting from skating to silambam, and everything fell into place for that film."

We all know that several recent personal life choices made by the biggest stars of Tamil cinema, which go against their on-screen persona and messages, haven't gone down well among audiences. So, I asked the 'star-maker' if the audience should learn to separate the reel and real-life image of the stars. "It must be the other way around," he says without a second thought, "It would be great if the stars can practice what they preach on screen. If MGR could do it, so can they. Staying true to their on-screen image will only increase the love audiences have for them."

Despite being a bonafide behemoth of the industry, SPM hasn't directed a film since the 1995 release, Thottil Kuzhandhai. "Once AVM, which I consider to be my home, reduced the volume of their productions, it had a direct impact on me emotionally," says SPM giving us an insight into his decision to stay away from direction. "People started making films without proper planning and scripts, and it scared me. During my prime, the distributors and theatre owners would pay us an advance even while shooting a film, giving us a clear forecast of how things would pan out. But since the mid-90s the uncertainties started to increase due to the widespread lack of planning among production houses and filmmakers. I felt I couldn't make films independently in such a scenario and decided to retire."

However, the legendary filmmaker ends the interview with a hopeful note, "Oru nalla kalaignanuku oyive kedaiyadhu. I am still keeping myself busy by interacting with young students and filmmakers, and have the same energy. I know it's too much of an ask, but if the industry returns to treating script as the king, I am all game for a comeback!"