The television programme Naalaiya Iyakkunar was what brought a sudden upturn of luck in the life of S Kalyaan.
A finalist in the show’s second season, this advertising executive-turned-filmmaker admits that, without the platform, it is tough to imagine if a career shift would have happened for him.
“[ Naalaiya Iyakkunar ] is what I’d describe as the original jackpot. When previously someone aspiring to be a filmmaker had to run behind a director for six-seven months, a participant from this show immediately landed an apprenticeship with a reputed filmmaker. If he wanted to start on his own, there were producers willingly coming forward to listen to a script and invest,” he says.
Fantastic find
The show brought notable additions to the Tamil film industry like Nalan Kumarasamy, Karthik Subbaraj, Vijay Kumar and Balaji Mohan among others. While his peers have not shied away from experimenting in genres and scripts, Kalyaan’s vision of film-making differs in this aspect.
“I don’t subscribe to logical film-making. My films will have flaws because my priority is the visual treatment I offer the audience. It is about the claps from audience. Sticking to logic won’t work out visually,” he says, adding, “A film is like biriyani . Some like it whole, some like the khuska and some like the meat alone.”
Up next for Kalyaan, who shot to prominence with last year’s Prabhu Deva-starrer Gulaebaghavali , is the Jyothika-Revathy starrer, Jackpot , scheduled for release on August 2. Excerpts from an interview:
Revathy and Jyothika in a still from ‘Jackpot’
Give us the gist of Jackpot.
It is a film in the fantasy-black comedy genre. It revolves around the two lead actors and the problems they encounter. How they cheat or con their way out of these issues to reach their target forms the rest of the story arc. We shot the film at locations in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai and Pondicherry.
Jyothika has tried her hand at stunts for the first time in her career. How did you convince her to come on board?
It didn’t take much convincing because she readily agreed when I narrated the script to her in January this year. I must add that she was very brave doing the stunts because I know this film has sequences for which male actors would have requested a dupe. In one particular sequence we shot in rain for five days... Jyothika ma’am remained drenched throughout. There’s one more sequence where she jumps from a dam. It is a scene to watch out for.
Was there ever a concern about these stunts being perceived as over the top?
None of these stunts will seem over the top. Jyothika ma’am had her concerns. She used to ask me if the audience would accept this as she has never done this before. I reassured her that it is only limited and suitable for the genre of this film.
Revathy and Jyothika in a still from ‘Jackpot’
How crucial is it to convince the audience of the meter in which you have set this film?
Like any commercial film, Jackpot too has its mix of emotion, romance, sentiment, songs and stunts. Both (Jyothika and Revathy) would be presented in a range similar to a ‘mass’ hero. Yes, these are days when the audience will go... ‘ Romba over pa ! Mokka ya irukku ’ (laughs). Whether they say these words or not depends on the visual treatment. In all of the ‘mass’ scenes in Jackpot, the justification is offered in two components — the build up sequence and the finishing scene, which will convince the audience why my treatment was adequate.
This is your second film with Revathy...
She agreed to be a part of Jackpot immediately and she was my biggest support while filming. It was an easy call to cast [Revathy] because when I approached her for Gulaebaghavali , I remember her telling me how the characterisation was different. She had told me everyone wanted to show her as an azhugaachi (a person who sobs incessantly), and she ended up loving the final product. Jyothika ma’am may have trusted this script but I, as a director, was still an unknown entity for her. But Revathy ma’am knew what I was capable of, and she was confident.
