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The youngest brand of Kollywood talks to you
By Behindwoods News Bureau.
October 05, 2007
Stars are brands in themselves; expectations start rising the moment a star movie is announced. We all know about glowing examples of stars whose movies are bought for record prices on the very day of the launch. But this is not about stars who are brands; this is about directors whose names can sell movies quite well. We have stalwarts in our industry whose directorial skills make star presence or otherwise inconsequential.
Selvaraghavan

If there is a star that’s just the bonus. Mani Ratnam, Shankar, K.S.Ravikumar all fall into this category. But these are all the greats who have been around for quite some time now. Tamil cinema is very lucky to have a young and vibrant crop of directors who can sell movies on their own mite. Ameer, A.R.Murugadoss, Bala, Goutham Menon sit pretty at the top of this list. In case you are wondering why we left out an obvious entry into this list; it was deliberate. This was just the preamble to remind of the elite company that this young man is in at an age when most others grapple with fluctuating consistency issues. Selvaraghavan is maybe the youngest director brand in Tamil cinema today and his brand of cinema is where the script is the hero (maybe you have heard that somewhere else), characters take over the actors’ personality which leaves you hooked to the screen.
Selva & Karthi Five movies (4 Tamil and 1 Telugu) and the sixth one currently being made, marriage, the elation of three consecutive hits, the disappointment of one ‘cold shoulder’ by the audience: the last six years have been quite a ride for Selvaraghavan but he has kept his head on his shoulders all the while. Currently busy in the making of his next movie ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’, the man who doesn’t like to mince reality with mush or melodrama was his casual self while giving a rare interview (he prefers his movies to do the talking) about his ongoing project and much more.

The first thing to touch upon was obviously his movie in the making with a title that is an eye catcher reminiscent of the Puratchi Thalaivar in his heydays. Selvaraghavan was quick to point out that all his movies have had titles that were just right for the subject (can’t deny that) and this one was no different.
Also one did not fail to notice that this was maybe the first time that the title of a Selvaraghavan was describing or rather extolling what appears to be a ‘heroic’ male lead (is Selvaraghavan going the commercial way). But he had answers for this one too; yes, the title did revolve around the male lead and that the character in this movie was one who truly stood out from the crowd with his actions. Subsequent attempts to get more about the movie from the ‘horse’s mouth’ yielded little results. Well, we will have to wait till he finishes what he considers is worth presenting in front of an audience that has loved his style of presenting the facts of life.
Tracing back his career to the debutant days is exciting indeed. After all, each of his movies offer so much to discuss and Selvaraghavan was receptive and the best was made out of the occasion. Lending our minds to a bit of observation will reveal that Selvaraghavan’s movies seem to have grown along with him. From the hormone driven adolescent years depicted in Kadhal Kondaen and 7/G Rainbow Colony to the angry young man who is always on the edge of snapping in Pudhuppettai to the understanding and compromising spouses in Aadavari Mataluku Aradhalu Verule- AMAV (Telugu) his movies have moved through life and he doesn’t deny them. The fact that AMAV happened less than a year after his marriage just proves how much his movies draw from real life. Don’t stretch your imagination too far and look back at Kadhal Kondaen with a knowing leer, life is just the inspiration, the rest is imagination.
Dhanush
So, from which part of life does Aayirathil Oruvan draw inspiration? The director is not forthcoming about that, he only reveals that this one is going to be far removed from all his earlier films (we already knew that). Knowing that he is not going to give anything more away the conversation moves towards other areas. Well, we just had to talk about success and failure. Selvaraghavan is one director who has a success record that would be envied by anyone in the industry. Nearly a cent-percent record and you know what we are talking about, no average grossers or break-evens; only big hits, endorsed by the viewing public. The only glitch to this otherwise fairy tale of a career is Pudhupettai. Perhaps the director’s most hard hitting (literally, for all the violence) movie to date did not find the acceptance that nearly a year after it’s release we believe it deserved. It remains Selvaraghavan’s best movie in terms of technical aspects, especially the lighting and the camera angles that he created with his trusted ally. He is a bit disappointed when reminded about the Pudhuppettai experience. However he stands by what he created saying that was the only true way to depict the story and its characters. He feels that the talk about the violence, blood and gore in the movie kept ladies and families away from theaters and masked the film’s many positive aspects. That’s a sentiment we tend to echo today. Perhaps Selvaraghavan got caught in a warp of time way ahead of the then present. One thing we can say about Pudhuppettai is that it had violence (undeniably lots of it) but it was never mindless or hooked on just for the heck of it; it was there because it was demanded by the story. When talking about the reviews and the recognition that the movie received abroad (eg.Toronto) Selvaraghavan acknowledges but is quick to say that his dream has always been to make movies that are liked and loved by his own people. What do we say to this one – keep it coming.

That was just about as much as we could get out of a person who prefers to talk less and work more and as he continues his work on Aayirathil Oruvan we affirm that for Tamil cinema this director is definitely Aayirathil Oruvan and he will remain a brand for as long as he chooses to. Best wishes.
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