Exclusive! Lakshmy Ramakrishnan Says 'Those Who Refused Mullai Arasi's Role In Are You Ok Baby Will Regret..'

Exclusive! Lakshmy Ramakrishnan Interview: Lakshmy Ramakrishnan is one among the very few socially responsible filmmakers in Tamil film industry. She made her debut in films as an actor and then learned the craft of film making.

She directed four Tamil films namely Aarohanam, Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe, Ammani, and House Owner. 'Are You Ok Baby?' starring Samuthrakani, Abhirami, Mysskin, Pavel Navageethan, Mullai Arasi, Uday Mahesh and Aadukalam Naren is her fifth directorial film and it is slated to hit the screens on September 22.

Amidst her busy schedule, director Lakshmy Ramakrishnan gave an exclusive interview to Filmibeat about her movie 'Are You Ok Baby?'.

Why did you choose adoption as the core content in 'Are You Ok Baby?'

I hosted three TV shows namely Solvathellam Unmai, Nerkonda Paarvai & Naan Veelven Endru Ninaithaayo. Many young adults at the age of 20 to 25 participated in my shows and shared their agony that they came to know about being adopted only after so many years.

They also ask me to help finding their biological parents just to know the reason behind giving them to some strangers. On the other hand, many parents who gave their little babies for adoption told me that they want to see their grownup child at least once before closing their eyes.

Then why they are leaving their children for adoption immediately after giving birth? And how they are able to do that? I heard about so many reasons like they have four kids in the family already and they couldn't bear the expenses to raise another baby in their poor financial condition. Some people says that they don't want girl child and hence they decided to give them for adoption. A nurse who worked in a government hospital said that she witnessed a newborn baby in the hospital toilet. I couldn't even imagine on how a mother can do that to her own child.

At the same time, the treatment for unwed mothers is too bad when compared to wedded mothers in government hospitals. In one of my shows, I met a 16-year-old girl, who got pregnant. Even though it was mutual, it will still be considered a rape as per law. They made her walk for 5 kilometers along with a women police and climb the staircase to reach the fourth floor in the hospital. I'm not blaming anyone and I completely understand their situation with the limited resources provided to them in many villages.

The girl's sister is also an unwed mother. The mother these two girls is also not mentally stable. But do you know something? She is raising the babies of both her unwed daughters. So many stories like this are happening even today and we couldn't do anything. These babies are still outside the adoption circle. But what sort of upbringing will that child have?

I too agree that our System have so many flaws but still they are trying to deliver their best. I strongly decided this one thing when I decided to do the film 'Are You Ok Baby?'. We have all the rights to tell the issues with the system but at the same time we shouldn't degrade them. So many films releasing today are taking the police department and government officials for granted. Public already lost fear on Police because of this. I will never do that mistake in my films.

The film 'Are You Ok Baby?' have three tracks and all three are completely different from the other. I just want to develop the film under an investigation genre with an emotional connect in a contemporary screenplay.

I will call it as an experiment film as it has so many layers in it. We absolutely focused about the story of a child with all these elements covered in a way not to disturb the core content of the film. It will provoke your thought process to think about all the factors involved in adoption, which is the key idea that impressed me to make the film.

I will tell you something. Majority of audience were tuned to watch only those films with blood, drugs and violence. It is rare to see small films wining big at the box office. This film 'Are You Ok Baby?' has the scope to become a hit like Sillu Karuppatti and Good Night.

And I'm sure that 'Are You OK Baby?' movie will stir up debates and controversies. There are multiple layers in the film with ruthless dialogues and adult content, censored with a clean U/A certificate.

You have introduced many new actors and gave promising roles to unrecognized talents in your films. How do you actually choose your actors?

I always look for the apt faces for my story. And ofcourse they should have talent. I started hating the attitude and hipocracy in film industry. I faced so many criticisms when I casted viji in Arohanam, Semmalar in Ammani and Lovelin in House Owner. I always want to give another Shoba, Archana or Saritha to Tamil film world.

I can easily ask Nithya menon for a script like 'Are You Ok Baby?' and she will definitely do it for me. It will also create a huge business platform as well. But I wanted to cast someone with utmost nativity. I approached Gayathri and Keerthi Pandian to play character done by Mullai Arasi in this film. Both of them read the script and told me that they liked it. But I don't know why they didn't accept to act in it. I'm sure both the girls will regret after watching this film, like how Ilavarasu regretted for not doing Kishore's role in House Owner.

Gayathri might have thought that she will get better visiblity only by acting with a popular co-star. But I feel it as the curse for Tamil cinema. Even my assistants asked me to cast a fair looking girl for the role. That may be the taste of today's youngsters, which shouldn't be encouraged by filmmakers and I subconsciously break that. I will ask them to look into the women in our houses and that's the real beauty I believe. What we call as white here is actually black when we cross the border of our country.

Why did you choose so many directors like Samuthrakani, Mysskin, Pavel Navageethan & Uday Mahesh in prominent roles?

To be frank, I believe that directors will accept easily to act in my film. And I also prefer them over star actors. When I approached Mysskin, he just asked the date and time of shooting. Uday Mahesh also said its his pleasure to work with me and Aadukalam Naren too did the same. Pavel Navageethan himself came to me and told that he wants to be part of my film. On a fine evening, I sent the script to Samuthrakani. He called me the next day morning and told "let's do it ma.. you can announce that I'm there in the film"

These directors, who are also the writers of their own films will always respect a good script. All of them have noticed and appreciated the nuances in my previous films. Even a great artist will do it. Nithya Menon, Vijay Sethupathi or Aishwarya Rajesh will always look at the script and not at the salary package.

On the other hand, when I asked Manikandan to play the role of Kishore's younger version in House Owner, he refused it due to various commitments. So rather than running behind actors, I started choosing directors to play prominent roles in my films. Because they respect my thoughts.

Why did you choose Maestro Ilaiyaraja for this film?

I cannot choose him. He chose the script and it happened. I initially had all the fear to work with the legend. But he knows the pain of filmmakers. We should celebrate his discipline. He will do the RR before the directors. I know what I want but I should also agree that I don't have a sound knowledge about music. I just have to surrender before Raja Sir and I did it.

Please mention the most important technicians of 'Are You Ok Baby?'

Tapas Nayak is one of the best audiographers we have. Colorist KS Rajasekharan is our colourist, who worked for so many Tamil films. His associate Yugendran is another important person to mention.