Interview: Selvaraghavan (a spoilery deep dive into the philosophies of &#8216;Nenjam Marappathillai&#8217;)

Hi BR. That was such a problematic question. He didn’t look like he understood it too. Why put your guest, particularly someone you respect through something like that? Anyway, he has tweeted this now.

நண்பர்களே ! அந்த நேர் காணலில் அவர் கேட்ட கேள்வி எனக்கு புரியவில்லை. இங்கு நீங்கள் சுட்டிக் காட்டிய பின்புதான் புரிகின்றது. கவனமாக இருந்திருக்க வேண்டும். மன்னிக்கவும்.

— selvaraghavan (@selvaraghavan) March 9, 2021

LikeLike

madhusudhan194: Good lord. Ramasamy is such a pointed name (see my review) and all I was asking if the film was using it in any specific way — like a “subtext” that some viewers pointed out in AO after seeing the flag (and said it was Eelam.)

Nobody was implying that Ramasamy (whether the God from the myths or a real-life person) is actually Satan.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Yajiv

@brangan: I am surprised he said Yes during the interview, considering he “didn’t understand the question” (as he now claims). Especially when you framed it so clearly. Sounds more like he’s worried about the backlash and decided to cover himself.

LikeLike

Man with No Name

Oh absolutely. Isn’t it a tragedy that they have almost deified a man to such an extent that creators need to worry about backlash and cannot even defend the subtext in creative work.
😦

And they call others intolerant!

LikeLiked by 2 people

Let me give another example.

If I spoke to Selva tomorrow about NGK, I would definitely ask him about that name: Nandha Gopalan Kumaran.

Because that near-exact name appears in a verse of the Thiruppavai, and the film is set in Andal’s birthplace Srivilliputtur.

Surely, this is not an utter coincidence? Or is it? And I think it’s my job to find out what Selva had in mind with such a SPECIFIC name. This is the sort of enquiry that makes films so fascinating.

But that doesn’t mean I am asking if Selva is saying Krishna is a corrupt politician wannabe who had his parents killed.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Man with No Name

Saar, the verdict that “BR கேள்வி கேட்டது வன்மத்தோடதான்” is already out saar. And, the memes are also out.

In fact I also saw some tweet that Selva should ask FC South remove the last 30 seconds to 1 minute of the video. I genuinely ROFL-ed at that.

LikeLike

Man with No Name: Oh, no doubt about that. I am not trying to convince anyone on Twitter at all, because once a narrative is established, it will stay carved on a rock till the end of time. I am evil, period!

I was just addressing madhusudhan’s point, because at least blog readers — I hope — are interested in a discussion. But hey…

LikeLiked by 2 people

madhusudhan194

BR: It just felt instantly problematic, when I heard that question. Like man, he’s getting into trouble now. And Selva looked quite blank as well. I can see why he says he didn’t understand it. I don’t think of myself as overly attached to any particular god or ideology or person but it felt like the interview was suddenly going into a controversial territory. Even the Eelam subtext in AO is quite controversial and sensitive with folks online. Given how thin-skinned people seem to have become, I’d have probably avoided that question if I were you. And he clearly isn’t great at expressing himself. So it came across like you were pushing a bit with that question. Just to clarify, I am not passing any judgements 🙂 Thanks for clarifying your point as well, BR.

LikeLike

Anand Raghavan

There was a long discussion in another thread in this blog about how left liberals are espousing the same things that they said they opposed. Intolerance seem to have wings either side , left and right In TN, it is very clear on how one gets branded by those who call the shots. The comments in social media on this topic would make any film maker worried about even any casual reference in his or her film

LikeLiked by 2 people

Venky Ramachandran

@BR I am yet to see the interview. The curious cat made me tune in to the last question. I am curious. Going by his body language, it seems evident that he would be far more comfortable with a tamizh interview. Was it his idea to do this in English? It would have been more fun to do a tamizh interview like you did with Mari.

LikeLike

Satya

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chennai/filmmaker-selvaraghavan-issues-apology-after-facing-flak-over-periyar-remark-7221090/

Yikes BR, the newspapers are buzzing too. They didn’t care to mention your name though…

LikeLike

Madan

Without going into too much detail, I find it interesting to compare the scolding of BR in this topic to the way people were strongly urged not to bring up the caste change issue wrt Soorarai Pootru.

Like I said then, change it however and into whatever you like just so long as there is no double standard. But there is a double standard. I know, you know it, we all know it. And to paraphrase Valerie from Chernobyl, silently pretending there isn’t one does not make the hypocrisy go away. So better instead to encourage honest dialogue no holds barred than impose rules that are only intended to be selectively applied.

LikeLike

Man with No Name

I do not want to link to the video here…but a very popular YT channel had this to say.

இதுல என்ன பெரிய துயரம் கூட இல்லை ஆனா ரொம்ப ஒரு வேதனை என்னவென்றால் செல்வராகவனுக்கு பெரியாரை தெரியலை-னு சொல்றது ஒரு பக்கம். ஏன் என்றால் பெரியாரை பற்றி தெரிஞ்சு இருந்தால் Yes-னு சொல்லி இருக்க மாட்டார். அந்த கேள்வி கேட்ட மேதாவி இல்லை…அந்த மேதாவிக்கு எப்படி இப்படி ஒரு கேள்வி கேட்க தோணுது? ஏன்னா அந்த படத்தின் கதாநாயகன் ஒரு womaniser. வீட்டுக்கு வேலைக்கு வந்த புள்ளைகிட்ட சேட்டை செய்யற ஒரு character. அந்த character இவர் பெரியாரா இருக்கும்னு…

And, they go on to say that this interview has removed the perception that Selva is a genius. And the whole charade that he puts that he is an intellectual has wiped clean.

It is absolutely hilarious to watch these videos and comments.

My favorite comment though is this

Rajnikanth who is a closet Sanghi had asked Selva to name the S J Suryah character as such. Dhanush acting on Rajnikanth’s instructions (who himself is acting on Narendra Modi / Amit Shah / S Gurumurthy instructions) had conveyed this to Selva.

Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!

LikeLike

Vignesh Selvan

When BR asked that question it did not seem like he did it with any ulterior motive other than his genuine curiosity (which he has exhibited the same way in multiple other interviews).

Now, whether Selvaraghavan intended Ramsay to be a commentary on Periyar or not, only Selva can answer. But I don’t believe he misunderstood the question. Even if it was Selva’s intention to criticize Periyar, he should be allowed to do so. Whether he is right in his criticism is secondary. That can be arrived at only through dialogue. This backlash and the subsequent apology has killed this dialogue.

That is his freedom. If Periyar was alive today, he would be the first to stand for Selva’s (and BR’s) right to expression. Unfortunately it is the vocal fanatics who are getting their way everywhere, whether it is cinema or politics.

LikeLiked by 4 people

v.vijaysree

drishyam visual-ya. Please change..

LikeLike

H. Prasanna

Irreverence is SJ Suryah’s shtick. So much of what he did, in earlier lesser-known roles, just mimicked another irreverent OTT performer, MR Radha. The suit-wearing, pipe-smoking, Tamil-English alternating persona of SJS is some strange amalgam of Sivaji and MRR. I would like to see a deep dive into SJS’ acting in NM. He loves talking about his craft.

LikeLiked by 1 person

sai16vicky

Just for the fun of playing devil’s (pun intended) advocate, I don’t see why calling Periyar a Satan is so much of a stretch. He rebelled against God and did his best to damage the sanctity of Hindu deities. He seduced his followers into believing a false Aryan-Dravidian divide and demonized Brahmins, blaming them for caste discrimination. He essentially made God and Brahmins the mascots of all social ills. For all his blathering about women empowerment, he married a woman who was half his age.

I must say I do respect Periyar for a lot of things he did for Tamil Nadu and the Dravidian movement but hey, you gotta call a spade a spade!

LikeLike

@BR – I felt the question was crystal clear. To quote “is this a veiled commentary on something else? Given the fact that you’re pitching (or pitting?) God against some named Ramasamy?”

Looking at Mr. Selvaraghavan’s, I interpreted the road to his “Yes” as something like this.

Shit!….Ummm…Slight head nod..and the most feeblest “Yeaah”

BR: You don’t have to answer..Give us a sign, Just nod…

Mr.Selva: Nope… he’s not gonna stop isn’t he…let me give the slightest nod…(nods)

BR: Maybe a little sun can rise from behind you or something (wink wink)

Mr. Selva: Ah shit..fuck it..”Yes”

Sad that he didn’t understand the question though 😉

LikeLiked by 1 person

karzzexped: Also, Lord Rama(samy) is Suryavanshi… So I was curious if that was a possible name-source…

And now I am wondering how is it that I seemed to be the only one curious that the Hindu was Satan/the Christian was God — and Satan was called Ramasamy.

Genuine question you’d put to an auteur, no? But hey…

LikeLiked by 1 person

@BR – Absolutely yes. If you’re wondering, I’m all for asking inquisitive questions. When I said the question was crystal clear – my only intention was to have a tongue in cheek commentary on the supposed “lost in translation” stand taken by the director.

I thoroughly enjoyed the interview and a huge fan BTW ☺️

LikeLike

sanjayshankar

@karzexped: That was funny!

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I don’t get the hype about Selva. Sure, 7G and Pudhupettai were excellent, but his work after that has very average. I liked the idea for Aayirathil Oruvan, but it couldn’t hold my interest beyond a point. Don’t even get me started about Irandaam Ulagam. It’s important to have a vision, but execution matters. That said, I like watching SJS perform and I’ll definitely check out this new movie when it hits the interwebs.

There was a Selva interview that BR published in ’09, which was an excellent read. However, on video, he comes across as very disinterested. Maybe he doesn’t like to be on video? Perhaps, a podcast (without a camera in the room) will bring more out of him.

LikeLiked by 1 person

KS

I have always wondered about the disproportionate abundance of Christian themes and imagery in our cinema. After all, our industry people otherwise like to tom-tom about how rooted and pachai-thamizhan they are, projecting even Hindu gods as brahminical aryan conspiracies alien to Thamizh culture. But somehow these same movies pay homage to a religion and culture that have no ties to our land or people.

Is it simply because these auteurs watch too much western cinema (or read western literature), get “inspired” and copy the same tropes here by lazily changing the setting and language but retaining the symbolism? They have so many archetypes and templates readily available this way, and is exemplified by Myskin and his tiresome JoesphCampbell-Bresson-Dostovsky-Tolstoy boasts.

Or is it because Christianity, with its black-and-white binaries like god-satan, heaven-hell, etc., makes for simpler stories than our beliefs with their more amorphous concepts like karma? This is most pronounced in horror movies.

Or should I war my sanghi shorts and be concerned about some possible sinister long-term strategy of missionaries who have infiltrated our cinema and are funding movies which bombard us with Christian themes so we subliminally get comfortable with them and slowly start hating our own religion and become easier to convert?

LikeLike

Satya

KS: Specifically for horror, I personally feel Christianity’s highly binary nature helps a lot – the satan has the upper hand until the very final moment of the film. IMHO God in Christianity is that one screenplay idea a writer uses when he/she knows that they are staring at the dead end.

LikeLike

@sanjayshankar: Well to be frank there are no unpopular opinions 😉

Elaborating on Mr. Selvaraghavan’s interview mindset, he comes across as extremely shy and introverted rather than being disinterested. Being a borderline reclusive person myself, I can understand his plight when he’s put under focus.

Moreover it is very difficult for creators to “decode” or “elaborate” on their own work due to the fact that so much of their work stems from the subconscious or unconscious.

At least that’s what I feel when I see him interact during interviews.

LikeLike

shaviswa

March 15, 2021

@KS spot on about Mysskin. I am tired of his references to JoesphCampbell-Bresson-Dostovsky-Tolstoy and other big names in world cinema. His movies are plain boring IMO.

LikeLiked by 1 person

vijay

March 15, 2021

I can never understand how filmi personalities can be “introverted” when they are working in an industry, where they are constantly in public glare and especially when their whole survival depends on interacting and extracting work from others. Most if not all filmi people need to be extroverts to some extent

LikeLiked by 1 person

Yajiv

March 17, 2021

@vijay: Actually if you look at Myers-Briggs personality types, most movie industry people (at least in the West) qualify as introverts. In fact most performers in the arts tend to be introverts. There is probably some correlation between introversion and creativity to justify this, but I will let a more well-versed person in psychology explain that.

LikeLiked by 1 person