Criminal movie unit takes Madurai city by storm

CHENNAI: Temple bells jingle and idlis steam in the roadside shops in the busy Madurai roads on a weekday morning. We reach Thiru Nagar and make our way into the sets of Criminal as people are lined up to catch a glimpse of their favourite actors Gautham Karthik, Sarathkumar and Janani.

Kids in the neighbouring school wave at Janani as she walks into the sets. Producers Meenakshi Sundaram and IB Karthikeyan of Parsa Pictures and Big Print Pictures welcome us and brief us about the day’s plan. A mike-weidling Dhakshina Moorthy is seen discussing the scene with cinematographer Prasanna Kumar.

Dhakshina says, “I planned this a couple of years ago with the same set of artistes and technicians. Usually, they tend to change if a movie takes time to begin. These people have strong faith in the script and have stuck to the project ever since they heard the story.”

A cop walks from a distance and we wonder if he is here to check for permissions but it turns out to be Sarathkumar who looks his part.

Dhakshina points out to him and says that the project got bigger after Sarathkumar came on board Criminal. The veteran actor smiles and asks him for the scene paper. He gives it a good reading and says, “Criminal has the potential to be a great film with strong content and a commercial entertainer at the same time.”

He plays a cop named Chozhavarman and we tell him that it is something that has stuck to him since Ponniyin Selvan. He smiles and adds, “Criminal too will have its connection with the audience and I would call it a “doable film”. I have played cop in many films and it is quite a challenge. You cannot bring many layers into it but you can treat it differently based on the narrative, which is what I have done with Chozha Varman in this movie.”

Cinematographer Prasanna takes a good look at the location and asks his team about the camera angles for the scene. Dhakshina lauds the value Prasanna brings to a team. The cinematographer is grounded and says, “These guys are a sweet bunch of ‘criminals’.

The treatment of this movie would be warm, dark and raw with high contrast as the story’s character sketches are quite dark. Cinematography for this movie is quite interesting as the visuals would be from different perspectives with effective camera and lighting work that is motivated by the story. We have attempted many single-take follow shots that bring in many details in a frame.”

Producers IB Karthikeyan and Meenakshi Sundaram are busy discussing the location for the next day’s shoot and tell us that it would happen at a politician’s house which is a bit outside Madurai.

Gautham Karthik walks into the sets and doesn’t take much time to get in to the character. He plays Lawrence and the director asks him to light a cigarette and smoke in what is at the entrance of Sarathkumar’s house in the film.

The actor gives different variations to the scene and the crew is impressed. “This is a smart script because of the nuances it had in between its lines. I found it worth doing when I realised there are many more layers to it. The pre-production has been meticulous so we all look pretty-chilled but there is a lot of work that is constantly happening. I did my work as well for the character as well as I haven’t done this before. I play a guy who respects his family and ties,” Gautham says.

Gautham is also kicked about shooting in Madurai. “The city offers a lot for the camera. You can set up the camera anywhere in this city and you get good visuals for the frame,” he adds.

As the team breaks for lunch we see Janani walking towards her caravan and she is elated to talk about the film. “I have cried a lot today in front of the camera already. But my character is pretty interesting. People have been wanting to see me and Gautham on screen for quite sometime now and Criminal is the right project for me. Moreover the team has been wonderful and as you saw, Sarathkumar sir brings in tremendous experience to the unit and it is a blessing to share screen space with him. Apart from that Madurai’s food is another amazing thing and I can’t wait to get a hang of it once the shoot is over,” she smiles.

Actress Subathra Robert had to mouth a few strong dialogues and she laughs when she reminisces about it a few hours later. She plays a cop alongside Sarathkumar and says, “I haven’t been a part of such a genre and found it unusual even as Dhakshina narrated it to me. I play Porkodi, a cop who has different dimensions to her. I know I was a little loud but there are different layers to it,” she concludes.