As its title suggests, director Sankagiri Rajkumar’s film Bioscope, which is releasing in theatres on January 03, delves into the process of filmmaking. In an exclusive conversation with CE, actor-director Sankagiri Rajkumar says that it is an inspired idea rather than one he always had in mind. “I got inspired to make a feature film that revolves around the making of my directorial debut Vengayam (2011) after many filmmakers in Tamil cinema appreciated the uniqueness of its making. We had a different style of filmmaking for Vengayam, without any trained technicians, and it served as an introduction into independent filmmaking for people in Tamil Nadu. Director Mysskin said that there is scope for a story on how we made Vengayam. This is how we came into Bioscope.”
The trailer for Bioscope does not give away the reason behind its existence and hints more at a fictional film, but Rajkumar says that it is not intentional. “We are calling it Bioscope with a subtitle ‘Story of the Story’, and the film clearly conveys what it is about. That said, there is more to the film than just a behind-the-scenes story. The basic premise is a key incident that formed the plot of Vengayam, but we have integrated many humorous and emotional scenes related to it into Bioscope.” He adds, “While Vengayam is a fictional film with a serious story, I did not want to repeat it with the same seriousness. Bioscope is a jolly good film about how we made that serious attempt.”
Besides Rajkumar and the other primary cast from the original, Bioscope stars Sathiyaraj and Cheran in special appearances as their real-life selves. Rajkumar says that Sathiyaraj and Cheran’s inclusion in Bioscope mattered because their portions in the 2011 film worked out on an emotional level.
The filmmaker also shares that his next is an ambitious project with science-fiction elements, titled One. “I shot it in the years between Vengayam and Bioscope. It took about five years to make that film because of its scale that necessitated shooting some portions in the US.”