Grandeur cannot be justified without good content, says director Shankar ahead of Game Changer release

CHENNAI: Director Shankar meets us at a city studio where he is currently supervising the final mixing of his film Game Changer. "It is a straight Telugu film that has been dubbed in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi," he begins. The trailer spoke about an IAS officer taking on politicians. Even before we could ask the filmmaker, he says, "Whenever I make a film, it somehow is seen as a film that deals with corruption. Game Changer talks about a lot of other things from an administrative officer's perspective. You will see more of it when the film releases."

Game Changer has story penned by director Karthik Subbaraj. "While I was looking to direct a strong content, Karthik Subbaraj had one. The story was pitched to several leading actors and I don't want to take their names now. Ram Charan and producer Dil Raju were interested and the project took shape," he opens up.

Recently, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap expressed disappointment when Shankar said that he has made Game Changer like Instagram reels. He strongly denies and adds, "I remember he is referring to my speech in Dallas. What I said was, the attention span of today's audience is so short that if we do not keep them intrigued, they will start watching reels in theatres. I am shocked that my statement got misinterpreted."

Shankar, who is popular among the audience known for grandeur in making, strongly says that content has the ultimate power to keep the audience glued to the seats. "What is grandeur all about when there is no story? Nothing can beat a good story and no amount of grandeur can justify a bad content. I can give you several examples from Mudhalvan alone. Uppu Karuvadu song was shot in Theni. Kurukku Siruthavale was filmed in India across several states. Mudhalvane song was shot in New Delhi. So, in Mudhalvan, it was the content that took the driver's seat," clarifies the filmmaker.

Shankar has now completed two of his big films Indian franchise and Game Changer. "Next will be Velpaari. It is my dream project and I finished scripting it during the lockdown. I will begin shooting for it soon," he concludes.