The writer-director on being open to collaborations, the endurance of some of his films that didn’t meet with a strong reception upon initial release, and more…
Edited excerpts:
Minnale happened two decades ago. You worked by yourself. Is there a sense of being in a zone where you could use some external inputs? Or do you still feel that you have a lot of stories within you to tell?
Actually, Minnale was co-written by Vipul D. Shah who was introduced to me by Maddy (R Madhavan). He wrote a lot of scenes. I also discussed some scenes of Kaakha Kaakha with him. I went to Anurag Kashyap for Kaakha Kaakha’s writing as well. I met Jaideep Sahni, Anjum Rajabali, and other writers like these… Eventually, I got down to writing myself. I’m a reluctant writer. I’m always looking to collaborate. I have a lot of stories. I think I’m traversing into newer areas, so to speak, in which I need help from other people.
Mani Ratnam once told me that one of the director’s jobs is to challenge the audience, and if you do that now, the thing that they resisted or said wasn’t working might work ten years later. Is that something that you might also want to consider?
I always believed that most of my work has been like that. A lot of people saw Neethaane En Ponvasantham later and liked it. And they revisit a lot of other films and talk about it still. Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa is still playing in the theatres. I’ve always felt that nothing goes unnoticed. And this work is forever. It’s meant to be noticed even later, and I’m happy with that too. I’m also always hoping that a producer recovers the money.
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