I see Audience as my reflection: R Parthiban

CHENNAI: The moment Radhakrishnan Parthiban steps into our office, laughter is the name of the game. His word plays and puns are like second to none much like the stories he pens. He takes a look at our paper and begins, “My movies too have DT in it-- director’s touch,” he smiles. Iravin Nizhal has grabbed the audience’s attention ever since it went on floors.

“Every director industry carries the weight of expectations from the audience. I will be honest here. People love the actor in me but I love the writer and the director in me. It is because I am eccentric as a director. I wouldn’t really enjoy it if I see a bigger or a better director than me. Even to be a director one needs eccentricity in them,” he remarks.

Coming to Iravin Nizhal, Parthiban opens up that Sebastian Schipper’s Victoria (2015) inspired him to think out-of-the-box (yet again). “I was amazed with the way the actors’ performance for 90 minutes. I asked myself various questions. Can I act like them? Yes, I can. Can I make a film like this? This has already been done. So, why would I have to attempt something similar to this? Let me do something better and different,” he tells us.

That is the genesis of Iravin Nizhal. According to Parthiban, it has its own pros and cons. “Most of our people have misconceptions about a single shot film. In fact, one of my friends asked me what a non linear film is. But, I wasn’t bogged down, I felt I needed to make this movie, pack it into a crisp story with a message in it,” says the filmmaker. He brims with confidence that the audience too would love to watch such a movie.

“Iravin Nizhal has a 4 am show. Both the 4 am and 6 am shows are houseful and I am glad about it. I see the audience as my reflection. When I pen a script, I read it by putting myself in the audience’s shoes first and present it to them only if I like it. Iravin Nizhal has such elements in it,” he says with excitement.

Brigida, actor and an aspiring filmmaker joins Parthiban and sums up working in Iravin Nizhal has given her the experience of working in several dozens of films. “I was there right from the pre-production stage and I was excited about all the chatter that was going on in the office. I play Chilakamma in the film and I tried other roles as well because when someone doesn’t get it right at the rehearsal. I am glad that I landed Chilakamma’s character,” she says.

Even in Pudhiya Paadhai, there were people who asked me if I took a leaf out of my own life to pen the character. Coming to Nandu, he is ruthless and has no humanity in him. He is a womaniser and does odd jobs to make money. This is not me off-camera — R Parthiban

Parthiban too opens up about his character and says that his role of Nandu is in no way related to his real-life persona. “Even in Pudhiya Paadhai, there were people who asked me if I took a leaf out of my own life to pen the character. Coming to Nandu, he is ruthless and has no humanity in him. He is a womaniser and does odd jobs to make money. This is not me off-camera but I am happy that these characters have translated well on-screen that people keep asking me this question,” he replies.

On a concluding note, the National-award winner tells us that he had to turn down other projects. “I had to say ‘no’ to seven projects and I had to lose out Rs 14 crore in total. I still did Ponniyin Selvan because I was approached for another character by Mani sir. It is a massive film and I was approached later for two other characters and it didn’t happen because of Iravin Nizhal. When I was approached again for the third time to play another character, I had to sort my dates out and be a part of it,” he concludes.