He entered the film industry in 1994 as a cinematographer and ended up winning a national award for his work in his debut ( Thenmavin Kombath ). Eleven years and 13 projects later, he settled into the director’s chair and gave us hits like Ayan and Ko . K.V. Anand, now 51, is waiting to release his sixth film, Kavan , starring Vijay Sethupathi, Madonna Sebastian and T. Rajendar. Edited excerpts from an interview:
What’s happening with Kavan right now?
I’m editing the ‘Oxygen’ love song. My team saw the first cut and said it was pretty good. But I feel I can improve it further. That will happen during the re-recording.
Kavan is said to be about a David vs Goliath conflict, where a common man is pitted against a powerful entity...
Kavan literally translates as a tool used to aim at a target — like how David used a catapult and stone to bring his adversary down. Goliath is in the form of a corporate giant and an ordinary guy is pitted against it. Vijay Sethupathi fit that bill. This script wouldn’t have worked with a superstar like Suriya, Vijay or Ajith.
You also have a new team to assist you…
Yes. Instead of Harris Jayaraj, Hiphop Adhi is the music director. The cinematographer is Abhinandan and Kabilan Vairamuthu has contributed to lyrics, story and screenplay. When you’ve worked with the same team over the years, you end up agreeing on what everyone says. I wanted to break that familiarity. The only person who has remained constant in my team is editor Anthony because he and I differ on everything under the sun except the food we eat.
Why have you chosen Hiphop Tamizha specifically among the new crop?
I had my eyes on Ghibran and Imman too, but he was the only one who was free. There’s a great difference in the way he approaches music. Harris composes music in an almost meditative, transcendent state. With Adhi, there’s a playfulness in his tunes, there’s unpredictability. In Thani Oruvan , he has done a fantastic job with the BGM and songs. I think a substantial amount of the film’s success is owed to him. My feedback to him simply was that lyrics were not discernible in his music; he said this is what youngsters like these days. But we made some compromises with each other.
We hear you rewrite your scripts as many as five or six times. Where does this quest for perfection arise from?
From my critics, especially those who work with me. Most of the time, you have a lot of jalra cases. But then, some of them conclude that it is only criticism that I like and give me an overdose of it.
How much of a critic are you of your own work?
I can’t watch my old films on screen or on the TV. I can’t sit through even 10 minutes of them; all the mistakes start appearing.
Which of your earlier films would you say were most satisfactory to you?
Ko and Maatrraan .
It has been nearly 10 years since you wielded the camera for a major film. Your last such project was Sivaji . Do you miss it?
Definitely. When I run out of a script. In fact, Shankar—who is a good friend—asked me to join his team for Rajinikanth’s 2.0. This was immediately after I had wrapped up Anegan. I asked him what the timeframe was. He said it would be a year. I didn’t mind, but I wanted to know if he was starting immediately. He said no. So I said it would be difficult because I had my upcoming (directorial) projects too.
Did you wish that you had been a cinematographer for some of the films during that gap?
I’m not sure. I would’ve loved to have been a part of Gautham Menon’s films or with Mani Ratnam, my favourite director. Good cinematography is not just about showing landscapes, but within a single room too. Like in the case of OK Kanmani. Three things combine to give good visuals in a film: cinematography, costumes and art direction. If you want to show something in a very tasteful way, say a person standing in front of a green wall, then he shouldn’t be wearing an eye-popping red. That becomes jarring… like how that Punjabi actor looks like in MSG: The Messenger of God . The only person in control of those three elements is the director.
What was it like to direct Vijay Sethupathi?
He’s very sharp when he listens to narrations. He gave a couple of good suggestions as well. At the same time, he’s a very simple man who avoids being pretentious. That’s why he fit the Kavan character — someone who doesn’t immediately retaliate when he gets hit, but instead tackles it in a different way. The film is a reflection of our society, how some things have become a part of everyday life… like bribing a cop or just paying to get things done.
And that anger is what comes out in your films?
Not anger. Me, I’m just numbed by these things. Shankar’s Anniyan … that was anger. Whatever maturity I have is because of my reading of newspapers and meeting a lot of people. And travelling — nothing teaches you life like travelling alone.
