Director Karthik Subbaraj has a penchant for gangster thrillers although he has explored several genres like horror, drama, and thrillers in his prolific career. "As a movie buff, I feel excited to watch gangster films not just because of the bloodbath and shootout scenes. If you take The Godfather, the son's battle for his dad's legacy is the biggest attraction for me. In Scarface, the brother-sister sentiment amidst the gory underworld is my takeaway. Yes, the world of gangsters excites me but the underlying emotional current fascinates me as a director", says Subbaraj in an exclusive interview with Firstpost.
Subbaraj's Jigarthanda, Petta (the protagonist is a gangster), and his upcoming film Jagame Thandhiram fall under the gangster thriller genres.
Another interesting observation in Subbaraj's films is his ability to use different kinds of guns and the authentic sounds they have generated over the years in the shootout scenes.
"Gun has been my favourite toy since childhood. I have a wide range of toy guns in my collections", he smiles. When asked whether he has a real gun, "I have an air gun which was presented by my wife but only after watching the Malayalam film Joji, got to know that people use that for killing people. But, to answer your question, I don't have a real gun with me. But with toy guns and miniatures, I feel myself like a gangster", says Karthik.
The director also credits his sound designers Vishnu Govind (Jigarthanda) and Kunal Rajan (Petta and Jagame Thandhiram) for the authentic shootout scenes.
"In Jagame Thandhiram, Kunal had a bigger scope as we have a wide range of guns and also a major part of the film is set in London with several foreign gangsters", explains the director.
Subbaraj also makes sure to somehow bring in the vibrant Madurai city in his gangster films. We can see different colours of Madurai in Jigarthanda and Petta, interestingly, Dhanush's character in Jagame Thandhiram is a gangster who hails from Madurai and goes to London on a mission.
"Madurai is my hometown so, it's quite easy for me to write characters who are born and brought up in my city but that doesn't mean I'm going to only write Madurai-based characters. My upcoming film with Vikram and Dhruv is set in Chennai and there is no Madurai connect. In Jagame Thandhiram, Dhanush plays a parotta master and in Tamil Nadu, you can't separate Madurai and parotta. His characterization as the parotta master allowed us to place a few unique stunts", says Subbaraj.
"I chose Madurai for Jagame Thandhiram because just like London, my hometown also has different ethnicities. For example, Madurai has dedicated streets and localities occupied by North Indian folks and those who were born in other states. Similarly, in London, one can see a street full of Gujaratis and there are Eelam Tamils in another area. I feel both these places have the same vibe".
Subbaraj says Jagame Thandhiram was started with a one-liner. "What happens if a gangster from Madurai gets the opportunity to rub shoulders with a mafia in London", says the director.
When asked whether it was challenging to write one more gangster thriller because Subbaraj's Jigarthanda and Petta have a good fan following. Moreover, Dhanush himself had acted in two iconic gangster films Vada Chennai and Pudhupettai, both films will be featured in the best five gangster flicks in Tamil.
"Both Vada Chennai and Pudhupettai were my big inspirations. I have seen those films numerous times but to my luck, Dhanush understood his character arc and the backdrop of Jagame Thandhiram. Both Vada Chennai and Pudhupettai highlighted the lives of the gangster from his childhood and his rise and fall. Dhanush felt excited for Jagame Thandhiram because it's about a local gangster from Madurai who proves his mettle in the streets of London", reveals Subbaraj on why Dhanush agreed to act in the film despite acting in two outstanding gangster dramas.
Subbaraj's films always have the paradigm shift of the genre after the intermission. "Well, I don't write scripts by fixing a genre. Only after completing the script, I would be able to tell the genre of my films. It was not a cautious effort but my writing style has been like that. I wouldn't call Jagame Thandhiram a gangster thriller. The film is about gangsters but we have also talked about various other things".
Though Jagame Thandhiram is now all set to be premiered on Netflix, the film was supposed to release in theatres. Subbaraj has roped in several foreign actors including James Cosmo of Game of Thrones fame to play a pivotal role in the film. Talking about the process of writing lines for the English speaking actors, Subbaraj says "As a film viewer, I can't understand American or British accent without subtitles so, from the beginning I ensured that the lines of James Cosmo or any other foreign actors should be very simple but at the same time, I don't want to portray them loud for the sake of better understanding. For example, many of our Tamil films made foreign actors act louder so that, audiences in the small towns and villages would understand but we wanted to retain the authenticity by roping in a dialogue writer who pens for many English web shows on Netflix".
Interestingly, Subbaraj had initially approached Al Pacino and Robert De Niro for Jagame Thandhiram. "Unlike Indian cinema, we can't directly approach a Hollywood actor. Firstly, we have to pitch the script to the agency that handles the actor. If they didn't like the script, you can't reach the actors and convince them. In case if they liked the script, we should submit the tentative remuneration of the actors, the number of dates required, and more details only to the agency. Many legendary Hollywood actors liked the script of Jagame Thandhiram but sadly, we didn't have the budget to pay them. Through this process, I got the confidence that when we have the right budget and script, can work with legendary Hollywood actors in the future", he signs off.
source https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/karthik-subbaraj-talks-his-connection-to-madurai-gangster-films-and-working-with-dhanush-on-jagame-thandhiram-9692941.html
