Satisfaction. At some point in an actor’s career, they stop being satisfied, and they take a pause, introspect on their choices, and analyse the trajectory of their future. Sivakarthikeyan faced it when he had just made the transition from television to cinema, did a small role in Dhanush’s 3, and headlined Manam Kothi Paravai, bolstered by an ensemble of comedy actors. He needed a film that would help him take steady steps as a hero who could sell tickets. Soori faced it when he had just made the transition from comedy roles to a serious role in Vetri Maaran’s Viduthalai, and needed to establish himself as a full-fledged commercial star. Business magnate-turned-actor Legend Saravanan needed a film that would help him earn his chops as an actor and the respect of audiences and critics alike after the troll-fest his debut was subjected to. One thing that was common to all these aspirations was… director RS Durai Senthilkumar. “It isn’t a conscious effort to do films that reinvent the actor. My focus is on presenting a script that elevates the characters, and invariably, it is advantageous to the actors, too,” says the filmmaker, who recently helmed Saravanan’s sophomore film, Leader, as he opens up about being a filmmaker in today’s times, the limitations of a creator, and the late filmmaker Balu Mahendra's words that he still lives by.
Excerpts:
Be it Ethir Neechal, Garudan, or now… Leader, all of them have been relaunch vehicles of sorts… Do you have that in your mind while writing?
What’s more important is writing the right theatre moments, and how the audience identifies with them. We need to land the high moments and how the hero interprets them. Those things definitely run in my mind while writing the script.
After Garudan, many would have questioned your choice to do a film with Legend Saravanan, especially given the response to his debut film. Did that weigh in your mind?
When I met him, we discussed the kinds of criticisms Legend had received, and I got to see how he had perceived them. I liked his thought process and how open he was about it. He pointed out that the biggest stars of today have faced innumerable criticisms, and it is how you bounce back that matters.
Now, when I read the responses to the film and its promotional materials, I feel a sense of satisfaction in taking on the right project and doing the right job. More importantly, why should we hesitate to work with someone?
In your career, most of your films have a rewatchable quality…
We might not be working towards it, but it is a consequence, I guess. There is a focus on commercial returns, for sure. You need all the right elements to ensure people watch the film fondly and remember it even more so. There are many livelihoods and a lot of money involved in every film, and as a filmmaker, I work to ensure every stakeholder is satisfied with the returns.
But doesn’t this approach limit a creator?
But isn’t that quite an exciting challenge? See, you can make a serious film where the box-office reports don’t really matter. But when you are making a film where the producer should get their money back, the actors should succeed, and distributors are happy to invest again, the challenges are manifold.
In this art form, we have to look at everything and deliver a film with this clear awareness.
Doesn’t it mean that political correctness becomes a factor while making a film?
Today, political correctness depends on where you are looking at it from. What is in my control is my craft. Take, for example, Dhurandhar, which has brought to the fore a variety of perspectives. Even if the film is politically incorrect, the craft can engage you; on the other hand, a well-meaning, politically correct film can fail to connect simply because the craft isn't on point.
Coming back to Dhurandhar, isn’t discussing the film's pros and cons important? Also, it isn’t like these discussions are something new. What is new is the amplification of these voices. The media might decide which voices to highlight more loudly, but social media records everyone’s opinions.
In today’s times, does a filmmaker have the pressure to go bigger with each project, be it in terms of scale, budget, star cast, etc?
Cinema has a certain element of gambling to it. A lot of things have to fall in place, and most of them are not in our control. That’s how I look at these big projects. As veteran filmmaker Balu Mahendra said, “We are in a profession that we love, and we are getting opportunities to do our favourite thing every single day.” So, for me, it isn’t about doing films with big heroes or big budgets, but the pleasure in filmmaking. It is enough if we get that. In fact, sometimes, when we do these big projects, not everything goes according to our plans. We might not get the very thing we came to the cinema for: Satisfaction.