PS Vinothraj: My films will never have a villain

Filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho famously said, “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films," in his Oscar award acceptance speech for Parasite. Director PS Vinothraj, whose Koozhangal (Pebbles) was coincidentally selected as India's official entry for Best International Feature at the same 94th Academy Awards, shares that subtitles were never a barrier for him as he was only focussed on the visuals in cinema. "I didn't know enough English to even understand the subtitles when I started consuming world cinema. It was the visual language that kept me engaged throughout," says the filmmaker, whose much-awaited debut feature finally began streaming on Sony LIV recently. 

Originally from Madurai, Vinothraj shares that his fascination for cinema started way before he came to Chennai to pursue his filmmaking dreams. "The place where I stayed used to be surrounded by theatres, so I was constantly exposed to the sounds from the screenings there. Aside from this, I regularly gatecrashed the shows to catch my favourite scenes and songs." 

Vinothraj's life wasn't quite different from that of young Velu in Koozhangal. He had to endure a lot of hardships growing up and ended up as child labour in his early teens. However, he prefers to remember the little moments of happiness instead. "I cherished even the little moments of happiness in my life, just like the girl who throws dry leaves in the air and enjoys it as a special shower made just for her in Koozhangal." Throughout his journey, films were his constant companion. Though he learned filmmaking from directors Raghavan and Ezhil who were known for their commercial entertainers, Vinothraj found himself gravitating towards making realistic cinema. "The transformation was so organic. I didn't even realise it when it was happening, I was only enjoying the changeover. The people I met in the filmmakers' circle made me unlearn a lot and introduced me to superior-quality literature and films. They started redefining the creator in me."

Surprisingly, Koozhangal wasn't Vinothraj's initial choice for his directorial debut. "Before I understood the magic of visual storytelling, I had penned a couple of scripts and was trying my best to pitch it to producers. Many producers doubted my ability to handle the magnitude of the scripts and all my efforts ended in vain. That was when I got the seed for Koozhangal. The story demanded an independent format and I decided to go ahead with the same, without any second thoughts."

While he narrowed down Arittapati, near Melur in Madurai as the setting of his story, he chose to cast Karuthudaiyaan, a drama artist he knew from his theatre days for the role of the alcoholic, abusive Ganapathy. But for the tender Velu he wanted a kid from that terrain. "The child artist had to be bare-footed throughout the shoot and he needed to have an inherent innocence in him. So after a brief search, we found Chellapandi from the same region." Vinothraj was particular that the film was told from the perspective of Velu. "Koozhangal has a lot of violence, both physical and verbal. I wanted it to be an important documentation of that, nothing more. So I decided to present the story through the eyes of the kid. This also helped me to switch easily to the brief, silly episodes of happiness he enjoys during the majorly stressful journey."

Even though Ganapathy hurts people both emotionally and physically in the tale, Vinothraj refuses to see him as an antagonist. "I firmly believe the situation that turns a person evil is the real villain. I don't think I will ever be able to pen an antagonist. A part of Ganapathy is a father who longs for his son's love and approval. That's the reason his first dialogue in the film is, 'Unakku appa pudikuma? Aatha pudikuma da?'"

Koozhangal has been garnering rave reviews for its visuals but the realistic conversations, including the liberal use of cuss words, hit the right notes too. "I never force-fit even a single word to the script. Most of these cuss words in the exchanges denote female body parts or are aimed at the closest female members of the person on the receiving end. It is a reflection of the sexism and chauvinism that has become deep-rooted among us. I wanted my film to reflect this." Vinoth adds that cutting down on the swearing would have equated to choking his characters. "I want my characters to have a voice of their own and reflect reality as much as possible. I feel it is wrong to make them behave and speak in any other way."

Though the film follows the journey of a father and son, Vinothraj manages to infuse sub-plots like a family hunting for rats and a septuagenarian selling liquor illegally in a petty shop. "I felt it was essential to document the people and the lives surrounding this father and son. But I didn't want to amp up the emotions and make poverty porn using them. I wanted my film to be as original as possible."

Often during the conversation, Vinothraj mentions that he intended the audience to enter and exit the lives of the protagonists at random points, which is why he kept the climax open-ended. "The abuse Velu and his mother are going through is just going to persist. But they will continue to face life with the hope that everything will magically change one day. So, I felt the long shot of women waiting patiently at the water fountain for their chance shows that the land they live in has inherently taught them to stay calm amidst the chaos and fixed it to be the very last visual of my film."

The ardent admirer of French filmmaker Tony Gatlif, Vinothraj confesses that he wishes to make more such closer-to-life independent cinema in the future, without settling for the usual commercial narrative. He assures that his upcoming film, Kottukkaali, starring big names like Soori and Anna Ben, and produced by Sivakarthikeyan will have an original soul like Koozhangal. "I don't think I will ever alter my craft to cater to a wider audience. A lot of people like the style of my films and I will continue making cinema for them. I have a lot of stories to tell and important societal observations to document," signs off Vinothraj.