Karthik Subbaraj, who is directing the next Rajinikanth film, talks about being a “social media generation” director, making short films and learning from them. He talks about his writing process and how he writes complex screenplays like Jigarthanda and Iraivi. He discusses the the layering of characters, the staging of shots. He talks about how the climax of Pizza helped him form the rest of the narrative (when people asked him to make it like Chandramukhi), and about his twists. He talks about the challenges of making a silent film like Mercury, with Prabhu Dheva. (And about Kamal Haasan’s silent film, Pesum Padam/Pushpak.) He talks about social responsibility and being an urban filmmaker. He talks about his Tarantino fandom, and his involvement in making music (with Santhosh Narayanan). He talks about his Dhanush film, where he wants an antagonist of the stature of Al Pacino or Robert De Niro. He speaks of his love for Baba and Lingaa, and abut classic Thalaivar films like Mullum Malarum and Nallavanukku Nallavan. Finally, he answers rapid-fire questions on Rajinikanth.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Sanjay Shankar (@sanjayshankar)
April 6, 2018
I didn’t realize that 50 minutes had just flown by. Very good interview! Thank you!
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Ratish Ravindran
April 6, 2018
@Thanks BR. That was a drool worthy interview for any cinephile where you tried to decode his film-making process. I liked his first two films but found it to be too enamored by Hollywood especially Tarantino. But it was Iraivi that blew my mind. He showed extraordinary maturity and gumption in executing a complex theme like Iraivi
He is one of my favourite filmmakers in Tamil right now and has the potential to end up with a oeuvre like KB or Mani Ratnam by the time he ends his career.
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meera
April 6, 2018
What a beautiful interview!!! The questions were well drafted and brings out the depth in his film making. I know a lot of people would have had a smirk when KS said Thalaivar is one of the best actors (BR incl) but he strengthens his belief with such genuine scenes that it was a total treat. Am Almost giddy with excitement when I think of his collaboration with Thalaivar.
On a side note as much as I loved Iraivi and pizza , I still think Jigarthanda should have been a full fledged gangster film. It seemed he felt compelled to pull the rug under our feet… and Siddharth was a total misfit … very artificial.
That said he is one of the intelligent and invested filmmakers who are itching to bring that difference …
Salut!!!
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Devarsi Ghosh
April 6, 2018
I thought of another interpretation of the way KS shot the producer-killing scene vis-a-vis the Jagan-killing scene. The producer-killing scene is shot in an operatic manner because of the incident’s bearing on the entire second half of the movie. From here on, the lives of all three characters change drastically. A murder is being committed. Everything changes now. And KS wants us to realise the magnitude of this moment. To communicate the importance of this “event” in respect to the entire film from there on, I feel KS thought of shooting it the way he did.
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Rohit Aradhya
April 6, 2018
Happy to see BR discussing about the scenes that we have talked about in this blog 🙂
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Rohit Aradhya
April 6, 2018
On a lighter note, BR again stumbles upon saying “Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi” 😀
Ps: I know it’s strangely hard pronouncing it, still can’t resist mentioning this 🙂
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brangan
April 6, 2018
Rohit Aradhya: Haha. That’s the first thing I saw when we sat down for the edit, and I was l like… screw it 🙂
Devarsi Ghosh: There’s another thing. The producer killing is the interval block, so this is also a way to heighten the drama.
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Vidya Ramesh
April 6, 2018
I know nothing about Karthik subburaj have heard so much about pizza and Jigarthanda but haven’t seen them yet. So i saw this interview with an absolutely a blank slate..he is a definitely someone very interesting and one to follow. And a Tamil director trying to cast Robert de Niro feels like a one liner for a lovely movie in itself 🙂 he should write that movie!
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Rohit Aradhya
April 6, 2018
Hahahaha
Just wanted to know : Were you a little bit disappointed on knowing that the Iraivi scene’s idea was given by the cinematographer (and added by VJS) with little input from KS ?
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Devarsi Ghosh
April 6, 2018
@BR: Hmm, true.
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brangan
April 6, 2018
Rohit Aradhya: Not at all. The purpose is of this interview is not to establish KS as a do-it-all auteur, but to see how some things happen in the course of filmmaking. It IS teamwork, after all.
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TheRainMan
April 6, 2018
Always a great fan of your interviews… The question I usually miss in most of the other interviews is the question about the director’s writing process… But the question about the writing process is a prominence in your interviews… Thank you for that… Keep doing the good stuff..
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Rohit Aradhya
April 6, 2018
@brangan Ya, i get it.
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Sanjay Shankar (@sanjayshankar)
April 6, 2018
The one thing that struck me as different from his contemporaries is his unabashed love for movies/songs of a certain kind. It seems to be norm these days, even for Tamil directors to say that they don’t watch Tamil movies. And here, this dude is defending Baba and Lingaa. Even the most ardent Rajini fan would rank these two as the worst Rajini movies from the last 20 years. Loved it! He reminds me of those Rahman fans in the 2000’s that would defend the title track from Baba. I know those people. In fact, I’ve seen one of them in the mirror many times. 🙂
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therag
April 6, 2018
KS seems to draw upon mostly Tamil Cinema for inspiration. Even the English movies/directors he mentioned are not exactly indie or arthouse directors. I lost track of the number of times he said “story” as if it was the most important element in any movie. Directors like GVM claim they are writers by force and directors by choice whereas KS claims the opposite, which is pretty interesting because KS IMHO is a better director any which way.
I think KS is the perfect director for Rajni. He seems to look at cinema the way the average audience does, with a firm handle on story, whistle-out loud moments, cheap thrills etc, but with some smarts. And he does not have the burden of carrying a social cause the way Ranjith does and seems to like the pressure.
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praneshp
April 6, 2018
Great interview! 50 mins just flowed by.
Also, what is the point of that initial 30second trailer type thing?
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blurb
April 7, 2018
The video doesn’t play smoothly for me. Only this video seems to have problems – anyone else face this?
I ALWAYS wonder if people who don’t have the context of THIS blog (comments, articles published here and on FC, but mainly comments) enjoy the interviews as much as we do.
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Arjun
April 7, 2018
A very insightful interview with the most exciting and probably the best tamil filmmaker around. I like how he is so candid about his influences. Doesn’t feel the need to name drop obscure foreign films and directors no one’s heard of. Thanks BR!
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Raj
April 7, 2018
I won’t be surprised if KS makes a movie about an aspiring filmmaker from India trying to rope in a Hollywood actor..
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Purple Sky
April 7, 2018
Excellent interview. Clear answers.
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Ramchander Krishna (@ramctheatheist)
April 7, 2018
A very well-prepared interview Rangan! I loved the depth and meticulous detail in your questions. There’s a genuine curiosity in understanding the filmmaking process which helps me learn more! I especially liked your question about the two murders in Iraivi and the answer KS gave for it. Hope to seeing more such interviews!
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Aadhy
April 7, 2018
The exciting thing about Karthik Subbaraj is that his sensibilities are very rooted in Tamil masala ethos. This reflects in his films through the numerous pop culture references and easter eggs, both tongue-in-cheek and as tributes. His inspirations outside India also seem are more mainstream than art-house. This is the reason I find him slightly more interesting than Mysskin, who has complete disdain for the regular masala fare (He apparently watches not more than one or two Tamil movies a year, that too only after incessant recommendations). In fact, KS’s penchant for twists is also a derivative of the mainstream mode of storytelling, only done with more artistic brilliance and loads of wackiness.
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Aadhy
April 7, 2018
Forgot to mention, total props to the editor and subtitle-ist. KS rambles away in his answers and I could see the effort behind putting his answers together and finding the right words to translate his answers. Not to mention BR on his autopilot mode with those incisive questions, an interviewee’s delight after being bombarded with “How was your experience working with XYZ sir?” type of questions.
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brangan
April 7, 2018
Aadhy: total props to the editor
Thanks, I’ll take the compliment 🙂
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sridharraman
April 7, 2018
Brilliant interview, brangan! Even better than the Mysskin one.
The attention to detail in your questions and the focussed answering by KS matched very well.
It was also quite heart-warming to see KS take very little credit even when you seemed to give him the openings. Be it with the Iraivi scene (crediting the cinematographer and Vijay Sethupathi) or music in his films (crediting the SN and the lyricist) – it was quite refreshing.
This interview could have gone on for hours and there would have been so much to get out of KS. Well done!
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MANK
April 8, 2018
Great Interview. i would have gladly sat through another hour. As always, great questions from you Brangan
However, why so reluctant in confronting KS about the inconsistencies in plot development and characterisation?. he looks like a cool customer and seems has no issues debating the topic, at least that’s what the feeling i got from the interview. I wish you had taken it a little further than just stopping wit there with that one answer. The abrupt changes in tone and the character arcs is the biggest issue i have with KS’s films and it has always stopped me from being fully satisfied by any of his movies. As you have mentioned this repeatedly in your reviews and we have debated a lot in comments sections, a lot of what the characters do and the way plot progresses seems to emerge less organically from the script and more from his whim as a writer.
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Pavan
April 8, 2018
Finally with subtitles! Thank you so much Rangan! 🙂
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Honest Raj
April 8, 2018
Yay, I correctly guessed his favourite heroine, villain and music director. 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyed the interview.
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GODZ
April 9, 2018
In this “I know I know” age, Its happy to see a director who genuinely feels he is confident with his craft and at the same time keeping an open mind to learn cinema as he goes through the process of directing.. As a ordinary movie goer, I was 100% satisfied with Pizza although I cannot say the same with his other movies. After watching Jigarthanda, I had a mixed feeling and same with Iravi too. Among the current sea of new talents, What sets KS apart is his ability to change the movie industry. Its not a overstatement that the movie Pizza changed Tamil cinema for ever. He restored the producers confidence to trust on new young flim makers again. Its a delight to watch a flim maker who is willing to take risk with each movie and try to push boundaries. One thing is sure. if he can make that RAJNI we all want to see, then sky is the limit for him.
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brangan
April 12, 2018
A small milestone for @fcompanionsouth YouTube channel. We crossed 25k subscribers. Thank you for your support and encouragement for the kind of content we’ve been trying to put out.
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"Original" venkatesh
April 12, 2018
+1 on the encomiums for the interview.
One of the best in the series till now.
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lakshmi
April 12, 2018
25k subscribers in just over 7 months. Congratulations, BR. 🙂
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