Nandini Ramnath/ Scroll.In
Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s second film after ‘Aaranya Kaandam’ includes Vijay Sethupathi, Fahadh Faasil, Samantha Akkineni and Ramya Krishnan in the cast.
It has been nine years since Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s debut Aaranya Kaandam, but he hasn’t exactly been sitting idle. The 42-year-old Tamil filmmaker has been busy with this and that – trying to get a project off the ground, writing screenplays and lyrics, making commercials. Aaranya Kaandam was one of the most striking first films by an Indian director in recent times, and whatever followed had to match up to that cult crime drama’s mix of freewheeling narrative, unconventional characters, distinctive Chennai patois and experimental energies, at the very least.
Some of these genre-bending elements can be found in Kumararaja’s second film Super Deluxe, which is aiming for a release over the next few weeks. The anthology film weaves together different stories whose connections are not immediately apparent. The cast includes heavyweights and newcomers. Tamil cinema’s most exciting actor at the moment, Vijay Sethupathi, plays transwoman Shilpa. Fahadh Faasil and Samantha Akkineni are a bickering couple stuck with a corpse. A bunch of teenagers embark on a sexual adventure that brings them in collision with a gangster. A Christian preacher questions his faith when his son has a nasty accident. A venal police officer leaps in for the fun. The cast includes the director Mysskin and Ramya Krishnan.Super Deluxe is set over a day and a half and unfolds almost entirely in the daytime across various interior spaces in Chennai. The narrative seems to playing out about a decade-and-a half ago (the 2004 tsunami is a plot point), but the pop culture references are from the 1980s. The title is one of the film’s many Easter eggs – it suggests a hyper-real experience that is heaving with known and unknown pleasures. The off-kilter humour, leisurely pace (the film clocks nearly three hours), and surreal adventures create a world in which nothing much seems to happen but a lot actually does. Kumararaja walked Scroll.in through the world of Super Deluxe during a recent visit to Mumbai. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.
What took you so long to make your second film after ‘Aaranya Kaandam’, which was made in 2010 and released in 2011?
I had written another film, a big one, that took two-and-a-half years, but I couldn’t make that film, so I set it aside. The budget was a problem, so I thought I would write a film for which I didn’t need anyone, shooting it myself and using prerecorded songs.After I finished writing, I happened to meet Vijay Sethupathi for a friend’s project. He asked me what I was doing, and wanted to be a part of it. I told him about the role of the transwoman, Shilpa. He was excited, and after thinking for an hour, said he would do it. He told me, even if you make this as a short film, I will do it.
After that, Super Deluxe stopped being a small film. It became much bigger. Once Vijay agreed to be in the film, I couldn’t just have one star, and I needed other stars to balance it out. Fahadh instantly agreed. I had pitched the role played by Samantha to a lot of actors. Samantha was game when I got in touch with her. She was, for want of a better word, really ballsy enough to do the role. She said, I hope people don’t get pissed off with me.
Is it easy enough to cast stars in unconventional projects, as you have in ‘Super Deluxe’?
The networks are far more informal in Chennai. At best, you have a manager you need to speak to. I had a friend who was an executive producer for the director Gautham Menon. He put me in touch with Samantha. Vijay I met through Balaji Tharaneetharan, who directed him in Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom.Ramya Krishnan was an odd person to play the role of the porn star in the film within the film, Mallu Uncut. We had initially approached Nadiya for the role, Ramya was very cool, and she probably felt that she was pushing herself out of her comfort zone.In the case of Fahadh, I texted him directly, and he said he had liked Aaranya Kaandam. Even though Aaranya Kaandam wasn’t successful or seen by many people, it has an aura around it. It’s a false aura, but it has helped me get things done.
Your film has three other writers. Apart from you, there is Nalan Kumarasamy, Mysskin and Neelan K Shekar.
I had written a one-line treatment, and then I got involved with a commercial involving stop motion animation. Unfortunately, that film took a long time to shoot. I felt that my film needed to get off the ground, so I gave the tracks to three other writers. I wanted another writer’s perspective and development at that point. Each of them wrote their own versions. They contributed their souls into the writing, which is what I was looking for. Then I rewrote what they had written.It was like a sandwich – the base was mine, they put some meat into it, and then I added layers. In spite of four writers, there is a uniformity to the script. Most of the pop culture reference are mine.Vinod was shooting that portion, and he suggested shooting the same bed going down different floors from different angles. When Shilpa’s pallu falls down, Vijay holds it just like a woman would. That was Nirav’s suggestion.