| |
|
| |
INTRODUCTION
His
Kana Kandain impressed us all with its unusual plot
and even more unusual villain. But long before he
won acclaim as director, he had us in thrall with
his cinematography, especially for Sivaji: The Boss.
Behindwoods met the director to talk about his craft
and his forthcoming movie Ayan, starring Surya and
Tamanna.
|
|
|
|
| |
The
director on surya, ayan and shooting for sivaji. |
|
BW:
Surya is deep into his six-pack training.
His fans, specially the girls, are excited.
How did this happen? Did you want him to do
this for his role in Ayan?
K.V.
Anand: No- that was something he wanted to do.
He works hard and takes initiative. When I first
met him on the sets of Nerukku Ner, I couldn’t
believe there was a young star that was this
innocent. He had left his export business and
come reluctantly into cinema. I feared for him:
how will he survive in the industry, I wondered.
But then I needn’t have worried. He is
such a fast learner, and trained quickly under
directors like Mani Ratnam, Bala, and Gautham.
My hero in Ayan is a young man of 23, and when
Surya learnt that, he decided he would tone
his body himself to look younger, fitter. |
|
“I
feared for Surya: how
will
he survive in the industry?”
|
|
|
|
What does Ayan mean?
One
meaning is mythological, referring to Brahman. An even
earlier meaning for the word is outstanding, excellent,
What
more can you tell us about Ayan?
Usually
when a Tamil movie involves young people, then automatically
there must be fights, and it must be an action story.
But what about telling the story of a young man: his
dreams, his struggles his victories? There are about
three fights in the film, but the focus of the film
is the hero’s character. His growth, the graph
of his live. Logic is important in this film. Inner
logic. The logic of character determining fate. And
yet Ayan is a commercial film, out and out. When Surya
heard the story first, he didn’t want any changes.
Usually, a star will want one or two changes, but Surya
admired story. Even Harris Jayaraj liked it. They said
it was a thrilling story.
The dialogues for
Ayan are by Shuba. Unusual in a Tamil film, where mostly
the director writes his own script and dialogues. .
I
wanted to break that. If you look at our films, our
directors also write the stories and certain monotony
in plot and theme sets in. I wanted a fresh point of
view, a talent either than mine giving me a good script
that I could then shape into my own film. On Ayan both
of us discussed and came up with the script. Shuba wrote
the dialogues. We teamed up when we were working for
magazines: Shuba would write the stories, I would illustrate.
Later, I found Shuba’s crime stories were suited
well to today’s cinema. Shuba can write both,
good crime and family stories.
Has
shooting for Ayan started?
We
shot recently for six days. We’re a good team.
Surya, Tamanna, Prabhu Sir, and Karunas. We work well.
The villain will be new – an actor from Mumbai.
From May the shooting will be full fledged. I love landscape
cinematography, and we are looking for landscapes for
songs.
Though
you are a top-notch cinematographer, you’ve chosen
to direct Ayan and not photograph it. Do you like direction
more than cinematography?
Both
are important to me. When you’re the cameraman
there are hundreds of details you have to take care
of – I didn’t want it interfering with my
directing.
|
|
BW:
Surya is deep into his six-pack training. His
fans, specially the girls, are excited. How did
this happen? Did you want him to do this for his
role in Ayan?
K.V.
Anand: No- that was something he wanted to do.
He works hard and takes initiative. When I first
met him on the sets of Nerukku Ner, I couldn’t
believe there was a young star that was this innocent.
He had left his export business and come reluctantly
into cinema. I feared for him: how will he survive
in the industry, I wondered. But then I needn’t
have worried. He is such a fast learner, and trained
quickly under directors like Mani Ratnam, Bala,
and Gautham. My hero in Ayan is a young man of
23, and when Surya learnt that, he decided he
would tone his body himself to look younger, fitter.
|
|
“In
Bollywood, they
have begun to envy Tamil cinema a little.” |
|
|
| You’ve
made films in Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil – now what?
A
lot of people strategize their next move even as they
are completing a film. I don’t believe in that.
I believe in focusing completely on the project at hand.
Do the film you’re doing well, and the next will
come along. See, when I started as a photographer, taking
pictures for Kalki, India Today, Aside, I didn’t
think I would one day be a cameraman. I did what I had
to do well. I saw Nayagan and liked P.C Sriram’s
work and asked to be his director. I thought I would
get into advertising but Priyadarshan asked me to come
and photograph Thenmavin Kombatu. That led to Josh with
SRK, and so on.
|
|
“Before
I started shooting
for
Sivaji, I thought this is
Shankar’s
and Rajini’s film, who will notice me?” |
|
The
fulfillment that got from shooting Thenmavin Kombatu,
did you feel that way about Sivaji, too?
They
are both different films. Thenmavin was a little
realistic. I didn’t have any pressure in
that film. But Sivaji was loaded with expectation.
I had to look at so many details. Is Rajini Sir
looking okay, stylish, like an NRI? Rajini Sir
was first priority. Before I started shooting
for Sivaji, I thought this is so completely Shankar
and the Superstar’s film, that I’m
hardly going to be noticed. But interestingly,
after the movie came out, many people have now
begun to refer to me as K.V. Anand, the man who
shot Sivaji. In other words, this movie has brought
me more fame and glory |
|
|
|
Which
Indian cinema has the best movie stories?
If
you look at Malayalam cinema about fifteen years ago,
good directors were there. Script means Malayalam cinema.
But now even in Malayalam there are item songs, fights.
Telugu cinema now has very innovative scripts. Hindi
cinema has gone to young directors who have studied
abroad, very stylish. But only in Tamil cinema is there
real variety. You can have a film like Sivaji and then
Paruthiveeran, and then Molzi, and then Chennai-20.
Look at these films – they are all so different
from one another! It’s a very healthy industry.
In Bollywood, they look at Tamil cinema with a little
envy.
What
is the lighting that you like most- available light
or artificial?
Depends on the budget of a movie and its story. For
Sivaji, there was no point in using some moody lighting.
For every movie, Shankar fixes a style. For Mudhalvan,
he had one kind of style: for the opening shots inside
Q TV and the Shakalaka Baby song, we set up stylish,
artificial lighting. Then the scene moves to a village,
and the lighting there is natural. He takes movies for
both, the rickshaw driver and an NRI. He has to have
various styles in his film. I love to do available light,
especially ambient light.
Thanks
Mr. Anand.
My
pleasure. I’m a big fan of Behindwoods.com
|
|
| |
| FORTHCOMING
MOVIES |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
