The words ‘international spy thriller’ were not enough to convince lyricist-writer Kabilan when Vivegam came along. “I’d met Siva during the time he was working on Vedhalam , and when he mentioned Ajith was in this film too, I immediately agreed,” he smiles.
Kabilan got on board this film after his work in Kavan , and he’d have to research quite a lot to actively contribute to its making. The film dealt with an international contemporary issue — and to give it authenticity, Kabilan had to delve into concepts relating to global security threats, the Internet of things, weapon mechanics and vector mathematics.
“The challenge was to make it all an enjoyable screen experience, yet not taking one bit from the authenticity,” says Kabilan, who worked closely with Siva and Aadhi Narayanan on the scripting work that took close to a year. “Writing the song ‘Kadhalaada’ took me just a day, and its reprise version just an hour. But the scripting work involved a lot of research and characterisation — all of which took about an entire year.”
A star-driven film comes with a few advantages, he feels. “In non-star films, the writer is in level zero, and has to slowly step up scenes to give a certain build-up to on-screen proceedings. But with Vivegam , we have Ajith sir, who has a huge fan base. I had the advantage of being at level three at the beginning itself,” he explains.
The time he met Ajith was during the schedules at Ramoji Film City and Bulgaria, and that meeting sparked off some interesting conversation. “He packs some high-end philosophy in such casual conversation,” he says, recalling his days with the star on the sets of the film.
Kabilan is looking forward to busier times in Kollywood, both as a lyricist and a writer. “Most writers turn into directors. But my wish is not that — it is to take screenwriting into the mainstream.”
