“The first guy through the wall always gets bloody,” says director Selvakannan, whose upcoming film Nedunalvaadai has been in the making for three years. Having worked as an assistant to filmmakers Rajesh M Selva, Saamy and Gandhi Krishna, Selvakannan decided to take the plunge into direction sometime in 2014. However, none of the producers he met was willing to fund the project. “It’s difficult to convince producers with a slightly offbeat film. Had it not been a Karthik Subbaraj, I don’t think producers would’ve encouraged short filmmakers,” he says.
A graduate of Sankar Polytechnic College, Tirunelveli, it was Selva’s classmates who helped him with the funds. “People usually opt for crowdfunding for experimental films. But that’s not the case with my film,” he says, adding, “Since producers weren’t ready to take the risk, my friends did.” At the same time, Selva is confident that the film will be critically acclaimed. “ Thenmerku Paruvakaatru failed at the box office. But Vijay Sethupathi and Seenu Ramasamy have become big now. Irrespective of the box-office results, they’ve achieved their purpose.”
What’s interesting about the film is that it tells the story from a female perspective, which is a rarity in Tamil cinema. Echoing the same, Selva says that the female character is central theme of the film. Through his film, Selva wanted to question the representation of women in mainstream cinema, “People howl and whistle to scenes that are deeply sexist. It’s easy for men to express their emotions post break-up. But a woman has to go through a lot, internally. These are some of the things I looked into before writing.” Smaller films continue to bear the brunt when it comes to the availability of screens. However, Selva believes that the scenario today is much better than what it was when he started out. “There’s an acceptance for a film like Merku Thodarchi Malai , which is very encouraging for filmmakers like me.”
Inspired by the poem written by Nakkeerar in Sangam literature, the film, as the title suggest, is about the separation — of a man and woman, and a grandfather and his grandson. Quizzed whether Nedunalvaadai is yet another issue-based film, Selvakannan quickly clarifies that he doesn’t believe in message-driven films. “Who am I to preach to others? The film talks about several things and we’ve tried to maintain a sensitive approach,” he says, adding that Nedunalvaadai is more on the lines of a Cheran film.
