None of the movies I went to as a kid really excited me.
I remember loving Sivaji Ganesan’s Parasakthi , for which my father wrote the screenplay, and was crazy about MGR’s Anbe Va , a film I can revisit even today.
But it was during the 1990s that I saw something that shook me. I remember attending a film festival in Chennai, when I chanced upon A Short Film About Killing .
This Polish film, directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, was against capital punishment and it shook my core so much that I could not do anything else that day.
Of course, it created a lot of impact across the world but it personally hit me so hard that day that I could not really sit through anything else and got back home as quickly as possible.
Since my father was closely connected with the world of cinema, I used to often accompany him for previews and have caught up on many films that I would have otherwise not watched.
After I started watching the films of Bharathiraaja, Balu Mahendra and Mahendran, I realised that Tamil cinema was entering an interesting phase... one that would feature real people, real stories.
I’ve been in touch with cinema since then and try catching up with the latest releases whenever I get time.
- Set in Warsaw, Poland, A Short Film about Killing (1988) revolves around capital punishment and is considered by some critics as among the greatest of all-time. It won a Jury prize at Cannes and was instrumental in the abolition of the death penalty in Poland. Its director, Krzysztof Kieslowski, is considered one of Europe’s most influential directors.
I have liked director Pa Ranjith’s films and also thought highly of Mari Selvaraj’s Pariyerum Perumal . Recently, I watched Avengers: Endgame and also Tamil film Super Deluxe, which I loved for its terrific casting and practical approach to issues.