Young Tamil directors are defying tried-and-tested formulas of filmmaking to tell stories the way they need to be told. And whats more,theyre making money at the box office tooYears ago,Venkat stood at the gates of a cinema hall in St Georges,Harrow,England,tearing tickets and selling popcorn so he could watch movies for free. At this theatre owned by Warner Brothers,he watched all the movies he couldthe good,the bad and the downright crappy. Today,two-films-old Venkat Prabhu is scouting for locations in Goa for a movie that would be Warner Brothers first south Indian venture. Nephew of music maestro Ilayaraja,Venkat,33,is now one of the new faces of Kollywood who are bringing the spotlight back on the director. The hoardings of their movies read a movie written and directed by a marked difference from the trend of banking on star appeal to publicise movies. For these directors,it is the story that is the superstar. At a time when many mainstream directors are churning out adaptations of films that have made it big in other languages,a group of youngsters,including Venkat,Mysskin,Sasikumar,Sasi and Radha Mohan,have approached the audience with a visual interpretation of the stories they want to tell,through actors rather than stars. They are successful at the box office too,which helps them continue working the way they want to. Films on the youth typically deal with college,romance and all things colourful. But a majority of our youth do not get college education,and gradually veer off into anti-social life. The writer in me wanted to tell their story, says Sasikumar,31,whose debut film,Subramaniapuram,was one of the biggest successes of 2008. Set in the 80s,the film showed the many facets of life in a village,telling the story through fresh faces. Subramaniapuram,which Sasikumar had to produce himself,grossed triple the Rs 4 crore spent on its production. Sasikumar is now busy applying grease paint on to his face for the upcoming Nadodi (Gypsy) directed by Samudrakani,in which he is the hero. Soon after wrapping this up,I will start work on a new project in March for a producer who came to me after watching the preview of Subramaniapuram, says Sasikumar,who assisted noted directors Bala and Ameer before coming to his own. If Subramaniapuram was about rural life,Mysskins Anjathe (have no fear) is a story of a cop and a thug,set in a city where rowdies are encountered. Ironically,the honest cop gets into the uniform by manipulating tests and exams,and his friend becomes a crook after failing to become a policeman even though he performs well. Mysskins second film,Anjathe shows life in various shades of greyit is difficult to draw the line between good and bad. The film was a big hit last year. I dont want to advise my audience. I was a big,big failure in life till I entered films, says 36-year-old Mysskin,whose debut film,Chithiram Pesuthadi,came out in 2006 and was a hit.Mysskin failed to clear a diploma in electronics,then did about 70-odd jobs in seven years. It was a life of penury. One day,while lying in my house staring at the ceiling,I decided films were my real calling, says Mysskin,in his office in Chennai. Like Sasikumar,who is acting in his own movie,Mysskin has acted in a movie,Nandalala,which is set for release. No actor wanted to do the role in Nandalala, he says. It is the story of a boy and a man,both in search of their mothers. These young directors seem to know what they want,but this was not always true. Son of noted singer Gangai Amaran,Venkat found his true calling in films only after doing a course in accounting from London and working as an accountant for nearly eight years. I grew up in Chennai playing gully cricket. I played with the children in the colony,saw their passion for the game,and also saw the fights. That was the backdrop of my story for my debut movie,Chennai600 028. And for that reason,I decided not to have any acclaimed stars as the lead characters because the audience would already assume which side is going to win the match. Then came Saroja,again a story of youth,which may not be all that new but the new way of telling the story seemed to have impressed the audience, he says. In fact,Saroja impressed many. Now Ochre Studios,owned by Soundarya Rajnikanth,and Warner Brothers are together producing his latest movie,Goa. Soon,Venkat says,he wants to make a movie in English. I got offers to remake Chennai28 and Saroja,as the scripts have universal characters. But I want to do a movie in English with an international script and cast. Radha Mohan,yet another relative newcomer,first made his mark with Mozhi and went on to produce Abhiyum Naanum,the story of a father who understands the need for parents to grow up along with their children. My stories require particular actors to do the character and that is how I make a film. In visually adapting the story,I try to stay as real as possible to connect with my audience, he says. Released recently,his movie is running successfully across Tamil Nadu and Kerala,which has surprised the director a bit. Mohan has received offers to remake Mozhi in Hindi,but he has not decided yet. Next,he wants to adapt a literary work for the silver screen. There will certainly be a gap between the print and visual elements,but therein lies the challenge. Sasi did that well with his latest movie,Poo, 42-year-old Mohan says. Sasis Poo (flower) was a short story he read years ago. It stuck in my mind. When I was looking for a good subject for a movie,I decided to take the risk of directing a work I loved. Literary adaptations are rare in Tamil cinema. But Poo was a rarity in another sense too: rather than a love story,the story was about love. I consider myself a director who tells stories people want to know,in a way I want to tell them, says Sasi,whose debut film,Sollamale,was released a decade ago. Serious Tamil movie enthusiasts are touting this trend as the reemergence of good cinema,and the directors as the rightful heirs of legendary filmmakers like Balu Mahendra,K Balachander,Mahendran and Bharatiraja. As one put it,there have been efforts to make good movies in the recent past,but not so many of them simultaneously. These new directors are taking their films away from the theatrical to the realistic as much as they can. Films like Poo were more real in ways movies in the late-1990s were not, says Nandu Sundaram,a journalist and an avid movie fan. Like the masters,these young filmmakers put a simple but tight script right in the middle with a fresh cast. In a year when many films came and went,the commercial success of their movies was probably the highlight of Tamil cinema. VENKAT PRABHU:Age: 33Debut: Chennai 600 028 (2007),a movie of life of youth in a city,told through the story of gully cricket. The title of the film is the zip code of the areawhere Venkat grew up. Next was Saroja (2008),a story about four youth fighting gangsters to save a girl called Saroja. Future project: Shooting for Goa. MYSSKINAge 36Debut: Chithiram Pesuthadi (2006). The story is about a mindless brute falling in love with a social worker. He ends up fighting his former godfather to save her. The hero Narain had acted in Malayalam movies but Chithiram Pesuthadi was his first in Tamil as hero. Anjathe (2008) is his second filmFuture projects: Nandalala (2009) in which he is one of the lead actors,is slated for release in a few weeks. He will also be directing Muhamoodi (Mask). SASIKUMAR:Age : 31Debut: SubramaniapuramFuture projects: Acting in Nadodi,a movie directed by Samudrakani,who did the villian role in Subramaniapuram. Will take up his next directorial venture in March. RADHA MOHANAge: 42Debut: His first film was Azhagiya Theeye in 2004. Then came Ponniyin selvanin the following year. It was Mozhi (2007) that established him as a good director. It is the story of a deaf and mute girl and a musician falling in love.Future projects: No announcements as yet,but is open to try something different.
