Vetrimaaran
| Vetrimaaran | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Vetrimaaran September 4, 1975 Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Years active | 2007 – present |
Vetrimaaran (Tamil: வெற்றிமாறன்) is a Tamil film director, working primarily in the Tamil film industry based in Tamil Nadu. He made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed Polladhavan (2007). His second feature film Aadukalam (2011) won six National Film Awards, with Vetrimaaran receiving two awards for Best Direction and Best Screenplay.
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[edit] Early life
Vetrimaaran's father Dr. V. Chitravel was a veterinary scientist and his mother Megala Chitravel is a noted novelist.[1][2][3] He studied till his tenth grade in Ranipet a town in Vellore district, Tamil Nadu. He then moved to Chennai to do his higher secondary education at YMCA, school of physical education in the hopes of becoming a cricketer. After failing to get through the selection of TN state team, he gave up the idea and enrolled himself in Loyola college Chennai, to study English literature in 1994 and was in the college until 1999 when he discontinued his Masters degree to pursue a career in the film world. Taking up an elective course called Television presentation offered by the viscom department of Loyola in 1995 enabled him to see his natural interest was towards film making.
[edit] Career
In 1999, Vetrimaran worked as an assistant director for Kadai Neram for Sun TV by Balu Mahendra, featuring 52 short stories for 52 episodes. In a team of 4-5 assistant directors, Vetrimaran read around 50-60 short stories in a week and shortlist a few and present the synopsis to Balu Mahendra, who would select the required storyline. After Kadai Neram, he went on to work with Kadhir in Kadhal Virus for 2 years, whilst also working with Balu Mahendra for Julie Ganapathy and then Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam. At the time, he prepared a script for Dhanush, who has the lead hero of the films he worked in, and Dhanush immediately accepted the offer after hearing the story. The film titled Desiya Nedunchalai 47 was initially launched with Yuvan Shankar Raja as the music director and Ekambaram as the cinematographer.[4] After he found trouble finding producers with A. M. Rathnam and Salem Chandrasekhar leaving the project after initial interest, Dhanush's sister Dr. Vimala Geetha agreed to produce the film, but she also dropped the film. Dhanush's father Kasthuri Raja finally agreed to produce the film and Kirat Bhattal was signed as heroine, while Harris Jayaraj was selected as music director. However, after two days of shoot the film was shelved and Dhanush opted to pursue other films after the surprise success of his Thiruvilayadal Arambam.[5] The film's collapse saw Vetrimaaran approach producer Kadiresan and narrated to him the stories he had prepared but the producer did not like Desiya Nedunchaalai 47, but agreed to work on another project titled Polladhavan.
Vetrimaaran has since described that he had "ample time" for he production works of Polladhavan as "Dhanush had confidence in him". Production designer Durai helped him rope in G. V. Prakash Kumar to score the film's music, while Dhanush also recommended cinematographer Velraj to Vetrimaaran after the pair had worked together in Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram.[5] Vetrimaaran chose Kannada langauge actor Kishore to make his Tamil film debut after his assistant gave him rave reviews of the actor's performance in the unfinished Prashanth-starrer Petrol. The team held test shoots with both Kajal Aggarwal and Poonam Bajwa for the film and released the stills to the media, but Vetrimaaran was still unsatisfied and finished two schedules before finalising on Divya Spandana. The director revealed that there was initially an an issue with the actress after she got offended by his words and did not come for the shoot for three days, before Durai intervened.[5] The film's story was inspired partly by the lost bike of his friend Andrew and the variety of experiences he had tracking down his vehicle. Vetrimaaran revealed that when he wrote the script , he made many changes to suit the visual medium and for Dhanush on his physical attributes while playing an action hero.[5] The film opened in November 2007 to rave reviews, with the critic from Sify.com stating that "Vetri has made his mentor proud, and his style of narration and takings are very similar to the ace director [Balu Mahendra]", labelling that the film had shades of Vittorio De Sica's 1948 Italian film, Bicycle Thieves.[6] The reviewer from The Hindu stated that "at no point does Polladhavan sag and that writer-director Vetrimaran has slogged through his screenplay and the result shows."[7] The film also emerged successful commercially usurping collections of the Vijay-starrer Azhagiya Tamil Magan and the Suriya-starrer Vel and subsequently went on to win four Vijay Awards including Best Director for Vetrimaaran.[8][9]
Vetrimaaran is currently undertaking pre-production and scripting work for his next directorial venture, Vada Chennai, a tale on the mafia wars of North Chennai. When announced in 2009, Karthi was initially touted to play the lead role, although an official announcement from the producers in 2012 revealed that Silambarasan, Rana Daggubati, Divya Spandana and Andrea Jeremiah would essay pivotal roles in the film.[10] The director has also revealed that his fourth venture would see him recombine with Dhanush yet again.[11] In 2012, Vetrimaaran also launched his own production house called the Grass Root Film Company and launched his maiden project, NH45 with Siddharth in the lead role and his associate Manigandan as director. Scripted and written by Vetrimaaran, the story of the film is taken from his maiden project Desiya Nedunchalai 47, which was shelved.[12] Furthermore, the director is also writing dialogues for his friend Prithvi Rajkumar's Naan Rajavaga Pogiren starring Nakul and Chandni.[13]
[edit] Filmography
[edit] As Director
| Year | Title | Actors | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Polladhavan | Dhanush, Divya Spandana, Kishore, Daniel Balaji | Tamil | Vijay Award for Best Director |
| 2011 | Aadukalam | Dhanush, Taapsee Pannu, Jayabalan, Kishore | Tamil | National Film Award for Best Director National Film Award for Best Screenplay |
| 2013 | Vada Chennai | Silambarasan, Andrea Jeremiah, Divya Spandana | Tamil | Pre-production |
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=hub250611TheYear.asp
- ^ http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2302077.ece
- ^ http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/66197.html
- ^ "Dhanush’s Desiya Nedunchalai launched". http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/27767.html. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ a b c d http://www.videos.behindwoods.com/videos-q1-09/director-interview/vetrimaran.html
- ^ http://www.sify.com/movies/tamil/review.php?id=14558540&ctid=5&cid=2429
- ^ http://www.hindu.com/cp/2007/11/16/stories/2007111650080300.htm
- ^ http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/05/06/stories/2008050650210400.htm
- ^ http://www.sify.com/movies/polladhavan-pick-of-diwali-news-tamil-kkfuuQdcbhb.html
- ^ http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-news-1/dec-11-03/str-andrea-19-12-11.html
- ^ http://www.hindu.com/mp/2011/02/16/stories/2011021650180400.htm
- ^ http://www.supergoodmovies.com/40230/kollywood/siddharth-vetrimaran-movie-titled-nh-45-news-details
- ^ http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/75334.html
[edit] External links
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