A voyage of realism on the silver screen

The director of Goli Soda says his movie 10 Endradhukkula with Vikram, is not a regular ‘commercial film’

Vijay Milton says his movie ‘10 Endradhukkula’ with Vikram is not a regular commercial film Photo: Special Arrangement

In 2014, Goli Soda was an exception. Not only was it celebrated by the critics, it earned, says its director Vijay Milton, about 14 times its investment.

Beyond all the monetary gains and critical acclaim, it also seems to have launched several careers.

“While I have managed to bag actor Vikram’s next,

10 Endradhukkula , some of my assistants (one of whom is Vinoth, the director of

Sadhuranga Vettai ) have gone onto become filmmakers. Some of my camera assistants are also doing films. That way, the mileage we all received from the film was significant,” he says.

Despite being a small venture,

Goli Soda was tough to film as it had to be shot in public spaces where the environment couldn’t be controlled.

“We used five cameras to capture, say, a lorry transporting vegetables in Koyambedu. We would shoot from multiple angles because we couldn’t reconstruct the environment and ambience.”

He’s reluctant to talk about his next with Vikram for the simple reason that Shankar’s

I , in which Vikram plays the lead, is yet to release and he doesn’t want to steal its thunder.

But, he says, the new film is not a regular ‘commercial film’.

“It is not a film that can be slotted under the label ‘commercial film’. It is a realistic film, much like Goli Soda ,” he says.

What did Vikram expect from the filmmaker?

“After watching Goli Soda , he wished me well. When I told him that I have been trying to narrate a script to him for the last five years, he immediately asked me to come over to his house in the night. Over a couple of hours, he said that he wanted to do the film. Perhaps, he was expecting a raw, gritty film but he got something radically different,” he says.

Though it has been reported earlier that Vikram is playing the role of a truck driver, the filmmaker neither confirms nor denies the report.

However, Milton revealed that bringing back the smart-looking Vikram on the screen was his biggest challenge.

“After I , I was very sure that he should be showcased as good-looking, like in the early stages of his career. He had lost a lot of muscle working in Shankar’s film and I wanted to make him look like he did in Bala’s Sethu . I think I have achieved that.”

(The article has been corrected for a factual error)