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Photo: M. Moorthy

Cheerful Fascinating story teller

Dressed in pastel blue jeans and crisp cotton kurta, Priya breaks into bright smiles at anything remotely humorous. It was only natural for her to wield the megaphone for a breezy love story ‘Kanda Naal Mudhal.’

“I’m not ready for a heavy story line. I love the industry and want to have fun with my movies,” she says, flashing the sunny smile again.

Her entry was a high-profile one. The initial brush with the industry was enough to kindle her interest. Priya says that she knew little about directing when she made her debut as assistant director in ‘Indra’ for Suhasini Manirathnam.

But she worked hard to learn the ropes quickly. She took a programme in directing at the Adayar Film Institute.

“I put in a lot of effort to make my debut flawless. Studying a bit more about directing helped me a lot,” she says.

When she completed her course, Suhasini lent a helping hand again by putting her on to Manirathnam to work in a couple of movies — ‘Iruvar’ and ‘Dil Se.’

“I entered the sets of ‘Iruvar’ and turned edgy seeing the magnanimity of the film and the casts. But Mani sir guided me all through. I was more at ease while working in Dil Se,” she smiles.

Even as she was working as assistant to the ace director, she directed a Danish documentary ‘Women on Wheels’ and a couple of telly serials including ‘Pen’ and ‘Anbulla Snehethiye’ under the Madras Talkies banner.

Her fascination for story telling fetched her screenplay writing opportunity for the Indian-English movie ‘Mitr, my friend,’ directed by actor Revathi Menon.

Having straddled soaps and movies, Priya says writing dialogues for films and telly soaps isn’t any different. “While each of the 20-minute segments in soaps would have one interesting sequence to hook the audience till next episode, films need to have gripping screen play writing all through the three-hour story.”

After the success of ‘Azhagiya Theeye,’ Prakashraj’s Duet Movies’ production was on the look out for fresh story line. That’s when Priya’s ‘Kanda Naal Mudhal’ got on.

Priya effusively eulogises Prakashraj. “He gave me complete freedom in selecting technicians of my choice. For any fresher, that’s a greatest thing one can ask for.”

The movie spells class for its idiosyncratic storyline, with poignancy intact. Priya’s eye for minute details was amazing. Strong emotions were portrayed with substantiate levity in the story where hero (Prasanna) and heroine (Laila), who after being at loggerheads right from childhood, fall in love with each other.

Remember the opening scene where the kiddo hero and heroine begin their scuffle at a wedding? Well, Priya crafted it from her own experience. “It so happened that when I was five, a boy and I were made to sit in ‘oonjal’ in a wedding. Our relatives, in a lighter vein, remarked that he would be engaged to me. I was fuming and hated that guy. Even after years, we would still feel the hatred for no reason,” she laughs. The crew and creator captured the emotions in best possible way.

Talk about her to-be-released ‘Kannamoochi Yenada,’ Priya’s excitement gets doubled. “It’s pure fun. The actors, sets and locations are grander than my last movie. Radhika is a very supportive producer.” Starring Prithviraj, Sathyaraj, Radhika and Sandhya, the movie deals with subtle emotional conflicts between them. “The story has all the flavours and unlimited hilarity,” she assures.

Similar to her previous movie, this one doesn’t involve a separate comedy track. “I don’t believe in separate track. Every character must contribute to the main story-line. There are two characters in this movie which appear only in one scene but are referred to till the climax. I make sure no character is left dangling.”

If star cinematographer P.C.Sriram pictured the breezy sets of Thotatharani in its immaculate best in ‘Kanda Naal Mudhal,’ it’s now the chance of his assistant Preetha to capture picturesque Ooty in ‘Kannamoochi Yenada,’ making this her debut.

“It has got nothing to do with woman-woman favouritism,” she laughs. “She has captured Udhagamandalam with so much freshness that you will actually feel the cold when you watch it” is Priya’s promise.

“It is not a lucky charm or something. It just happened as I was particular that the title of my movie should start with ‘kan,’ just as my last movie,” she says.

Her next project? “I’ve four to five scripts ready. I haven’t chosen any producers. Rather, they have not chosen me yet,” she breaks into a disarming chuckle again.

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