The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : "Pattiyal," a tale of two friends

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 20, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

"Pattiyal," a tale of two friends

Sudhish Kamath

The film has taken a neat opening at the box office

CHENNAI: Young filmmaker Vishnuvardhan ("Kurumbu," "Arindum Ariyamalum" and now "Pattiyal") and Tamil cinema's latest heart-throb Arya are completely relaxed, pleased with the reports of houseful shows of their latest gangster film. As the two chill out at Coffee over lunch on Sunday afternoon, Vishnuvardhan talks about "Pattiyal".

"I was scared. The publicity was not adequate because we decided to come out earlier than planned. The elections are coming up in a few weeks. So this was the right time," the filmmaker says in relief. The film has taken a neat opening at the box office and tickets sold out till Wednesday.

Was he worried about releasing his film around the same time along with Selvaraghavan's "Pudupettai" and Gautam's "Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu"? "No, it's just the distributors wanted it early. Last year, my film was released along with "Chandramukhi". I was so scared then but it ran to compete with "Anniyan" that released later and survived two biggies," says the director.

"I had a gangster background for the last film too exploring the father-son bond. This time, it is about two friends. I've tried to bring out the rawness and made it really gritty. We used an aqua green tint to cut down the glamour in it," he explains.

"The toughest part was shooting. With a camera as heavy as that, the physical aspect of handling it 15 hours a day was the most challenging part," laughs cinematographer Nirav Shah who is currently shooting in Brazil for Dhoom 2.

Nirav says over phone that the unit decided against the conventional dark tone associated with gangster films because the film was more about the friendship than the crime.

"The world of crime and gangsters is just a backdrop," says Vishnuvardhan, who did quite a bit of research, talking to gangsters and studying what goes in their mind. "Dad was in the fishing business. I got a chance to meet real people and was fascinated by their guts and attitude towards life and death," adds the director with the rebel attitude himself, armed with a Chinese tribal dragon tattoo peeping out of his tee shirt. "I got this done in Phuket. It took four and a half hours and was very painful," says the filmmaker whose first tryst with the film business was a role as a child artist in "Anjali".

"I also played Vijaykant Junior in "Chatriyan"," he laughs. After his Visual Communication, he joined Santosh Sivan in "Terrorist," and stayed with him through "Fiza" and "Asoka." "I was in Mumbai for four years. And working with him, I got exposure to film festivals and my taste changed."

"Watching films of class around the world, I realised what I knew was just a drop, I had lots to learn. I'm still learning," says the director, whose style of filmmaking has been often compared to Mani Ratnam's earlier films. "It's not intended that way. I didn't even realise it," says the filmmaker.

Unapologetic

His characters were quite unapologetic that they took to crime. "They do it for money. It's their job. They don't think about what's right and wrong. I have met people like Kosi and Selva (the protagonists of "Pattiyal"). They are always drunk, they do it like any job. It's a way of life. They know death is around the corner."

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