After Kabali received mixed reviews on the day of its release, Rajinikanth fans did not expect that he would join hands with filmmaker for Kaala . But the actor did just that.
Only he wanted Kaala to be an out-and-out commercial film, given that Kabali wasn’t “typical” Rajini fare. Mr. Ranjith initially pitched a gangster film set in North Madras. That’s when Mr. Rajinikanth suggested that he explore a film about the Mumbai underworld.
“I started my research by reading a number of books on the underworld and met those who have knowledge about the underworld in Mumbai,” said Mr. Ranjith.
How did a film about the Mumbai underworld then become a film about landlessness, urban poverty and working class resistance?
Somewhere along the way, the plan changed substantially. While doing research, Mr. Ranjith said that he realised that there was a “vertical vs horizontal” war going on in Mumbai. Every clutch of skyscrapers was next to a large slum.
“When I started understanding these issues, the story sort of changed. The life of gangsters is very interesting and I thought if the movie is set in the 80s, it will be great. At the same time, I understood how important land is in Mumbai,” Mr. Ranjith said. He also said that he wanted to question the idea of ‘beautification’ of cities by relocating people living in slums and focus on the struggle for land by poor working classes. “Urban poor are constantly being squeezed. We saw how it done during the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, brutal eviction of working classes in slums in Rio de Janiero during Olympics. This eviction, under the garb of beautification of cities, needs to be questioned. This film does that,” he said.
The film also incorporates the Ramayana in the narrative, in an attempt to show the opposition between fair and dark, between Aryans and Dravidians, Mr. Ranjith revealed. As land is a crucial resource, Mr. Ranjith said, its “ownership gives people confidence that they don’t have to depend on anyone. Removing the link between a person and his land is the first step in enslaving people. When Dalits are without land, they have to work in fields owned by a dominant caste person. Here, the caste hierarchy becomes much sharper as class and caste merge.”
While the film openly speaks about the politics round land ownership in India, Mr. Ranjith said that Kaala ’s narrative also touches upon the problem of how ‘dark’ colour has been deemed unworthy by the Indian mainstream.
“Nana Patekar plays a character (villain) with characteristics of the Indian majority. He helped us create the film’s ideology, especially the opposition between white and black in the film’s text. We have also worked to incorporate elements of the Ramayana in the film. After watching the film, everyone will be able to relate to it better,” Mr. Ranjith said.
