For me, every film is a learning process. After each, I take time to unlearn.Collection: Learning
I don't find anything black and white; I find grey in every person, and that is what excites me.
Awards are an encouragement. An award is not something we aim at while making a film.
My mentor is Balu Mahendra.
Rajkumar was the winner of 'Naalaya Iyakkunar Season 2,' and I was impressed with his short film. He joined me as an assistant when I started the pre-production work for 'Vada Chennai.'
I've always said that the more ethnic you become, the more international your film becomes.
The budget of 'Vada Chennai' is nearly Rs 60 crores.
My films are a personal reflection on the impact that the state - the system and the world - has on me.
The Hindi remake rights for 'Visaranai' have been bought by director Priyadarshan.
My films are a reflection of the society I live in, what I see and observe.
Slum children eat crow's eggs for nutrition yet nobody respects this common bird. It's the exotic birds which fascinate all.
In Toronto, the film festival is like a carnival... entire families come to it.
I like to keep my films close to reality.
I am a serious filmmaker, and I see the whole process of filmmaking more as a piece of art.
Anybody with a good smart phone can shoot and edit a film. Distributing it is the hard part.
I do films for the common man and identify myself one among them.
I can't describe how I make a film. It's organic.
I can't write about someone who is unlike me in all senses-physically, emotionally and socially.
If a film can't excite me and teach me something about life, then it is not worth pursuing.
The younger generation of filmmakers is concerned about our roots, rather than making films with characters plucked out of the cloud or some English DVD. Actually since 2000, Tamil cinema is going through some positive changes.
We all have to consciously make efforts to identify our roots and nurture them.
Vada Chennai' is a proper mainstream film, told in a sensible way.
Going international is my game. I've always wanted to do it, and after 'Aadukalam,' I got to meet Anurag Kashyap, the face of alternate Indian cinema to the world.
I wasn't happy the way I completed 'Asuran' or abandoned the film as it isn't complete. People are liking it and it's making money and I'm glad but I'm not happy with how I had to finish it.
Vada Chennai 2' needs a big budget.
It is much easier to do a film about something that the audience readily knows about - say, cricket. It is much more difficult to write a film based on golf.
AJ' is a very special movie to me. I have been watching Dinesh and Rajkumar from their initial days, and have witnessed their evolution. The film talks about the bond shared between a father and a son who wants to fulfil his father's dreams. It's a cross between a comedy of errors and a political satire.
When you're a filmmaker or a scriptwriter, you face a lot of challenges while making a film. And when you produce it, you have to put in an extra effort.
Whatever film it is, the geography has to be right. If I cannot establish it, I'll get lost. I wouldn't even understand it in the first place! I hence visit a place and decide what can be conveyed from where; how that can be incorporated in the story.
I don't believe in one slow panning-shot to show a place. It should unfurl in the story itself.
For me, in any story that I take, the antagonist is more interesting and multi-dimensional.
Dhanush paid my salary in 2015 when I needed it to make 'Visaaranai.'
The psychology of education is all about how the society gets benefited from it.
When we belong to a community and learn things that are no way related to our society, we live as unwanted entities in that society.
We should protest to ban NEET altogether.
India is a conglomeration of different states with various languages, tradition, and culture for each.
The violence in 'Visaranai' is based on reality.
Once, a man at the customs duty check at the Delhi Airport asked me a question in Hindi, and I told him that I didn't speak the language. He got angry and said, 'How could you not speak in Hindi? Hindi is our mother tongue.' I told him that it wasn't my mother tongue. He got furious, and made me wait for over 45 minutes.
One of my staff members told me that after the release of the film, whenever a custodial death is reported, people say - 'Another 'Visaranai.' This is the kind of change that I am looking for; it should hit you hard.
Kaaka Muttai' is the expression of an insider. It is a film about globalisation and its effects.
Manikandan is a complete filmmaker and knows his job well.
Visaaranai' reflects a stark reality from which you cannot shut yourself out: that is its success.
I wrote 'Aadukalam' keeping Dhanush in mind. As an actor, he delivers exactly what I need and sometimes more.
The best part about an actor is that they should firstly be receptive and secondly be expressive.
The pressure and hype is created by the media. Of course, expectations are there and we cannot stop that nor change yourself for expectations. We just continue making films.
I always feel that my films ought to teach me something about life.
It's always good to promote a film on a larger scale before it's been put to test.
There is a huge market ready to accept good Tamil content.
I feel you lose your audience when you make movies for others and not for yourself or your people.
A script writer usually manipulates his characters in accordance to the script.