Exclusive! Director Sasi Opens Up About His Nooru Kodi Vaanavil and The Impact Of World Cinema In His Films

How do you keep yourself updated and do films for current generation ? What is the secret behind maintaining the same energy for so many years ?

Survival is the key element that keeps me energized. I didn't got settled in life yet and
if I'm not giving a successful film now, I will suffer a lot financially. So the primary reason to do films often is to solve my economical problems. Beyond that, only youngsters are coming to cinema theatres. So I have to tell stories for them from their perspective. What is their taste? How they approach elders ? How they see the relationship between men and women ? These questions made me to do films like Nooru Kodi Vaanavil for current generation audience.

Please tell us about your upcoming film Nooru Kodi Vaanavil.

As I showed in Nooru Kodi Vaanavil teaser, a 15 years old girl fell in love with a boy. Only at the age of 20, she realize that she chose a wrong guy. The problem with her is the confused state of mind and the struggle happening inside her to choose between two options. She thinks, 'I chose him and I proposed him. So I shouldn't go away from him. I should stick with him ethically.' And the second thought is 'This is my life. Yes, I made a mistake by choosing him when I was 15. And I have the right to do mistakes in my life. So I should come out of it now as I realized the problem with my earlier decision.' This is the crux of the story and we can also term it as a modern version of my film Poo.

We have seen you consistently attending film festivals across the country. Can you explain about your take on Film Festivals ?

Cinema is a language for film-makers like me. How Turkeys speak the language ? How Russians speak it ? How Iranians speak it ? The curiosity and excitement to see cinema in various film languages is pushing me to go for film festivals. It gives a unique experience and I learn a lot of nuances by watching films at festivals. For example, they deliver an emotion beautifully by focusing on scratching nails rather than showing a facial expression always. It made me to think a lot and find ways to fit in such nuances perfectly in my screenplays. When we adapt it properly, our film language is getting amazing. So I'm renewing myself by watching world films. Things that we see, hear and experience are only then converted as films. In that case, my films will definitely have the essence of all the great world cinemas that I watch.

Which film impressed you in recent times ?

Recently Koozhangal made a terrific impact on me. I will strongly say that Koozhangal is the first proper world cinema. It is so evident in every aspect of its making. Apart from that, Natchathiram Nagargirathu and Gargi impressed me a lot in recent times.

What kind of films you want to do ?

My principle is that I always want to do good films in a way everyone can understand. To be specific, I want to do films that speaks about a particular landscape. Since my native is Salem, I want to do a film that portrays the original culture of the district. And I wish every film-maker to do a film about their own landscape as they know more about it than others. Even I wish to make a film about other regions like Theni by completely exploring about their traditions. I love the Malayalam film Maheshinte Prathikaaram, which portrayed the Idikki district clearly. Kalavani by director Sargunam is one such Tamil film which was completely set in Thanjavur. Some important films based on Madurai has already came in Tamil cinema. But a lot more should come up with the nativity of important districts like Pudukkottai, Erode, etc.

How do you select an actor for your film ?

The social image of my actor will not at all have a great impact on me. I have the guts to break the image of an actor with my screenplay and film language. I will only check whether he or she will fit into my story. Dealing with business of my film based on the actors market is not my cup of tea. My film producer will take care of it.

What will be your advice to upcoming next generation film-makers ?

Not only for next generation film-makers, even for myself I will say that a director should always respect his audience. The time and money they spend for a film is so valuable. I should give them the feeling of watching a film that worth atleast ten rupees more than what they spent for the film. Finally, my level of respect for my profession will decide my success.

Where will you search for your actors ? And will you cast a talented actor from a world cinema that you watch ?

Definitely I will do that. When I was watching Koozhangal, I was thinking about how I can use the lead actor Karuththadaiyaan in my film. He did an amazing job with his extraordinary performance. Siddhi Idnani is a theatre performer and I casted her in my upcoming film Nooru Kodi Vaanavil for an important role that travels throughout the film. Gautham Vasudev Menon watched her performance in my film and casted her in Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu. So i prefer actors with a proper experience in theatre labs. Because training an actor from the scratch is a huge process and it needs a lot of hard work. Unfortunately, we don't have many proper films schools. While watching any Iranian film, I will always wonder on how every actor is performing so well. Even a small character who sells oranges on roadside and a car cleaning boy with a screen presence of just few seconds will create an impact on the audience in Iranian films. Later I got to know that all these actors are coming from great film schools and powerful theatres.

Do you have interest in doing a film based on novels or short stories?

A lot of great stories are there in Tamil language. The only problem in converting them to movies is that most of the stories will not be hero or heroine centric. So the probability of doing a mainstream cinema with such stories is less. But I have interest in it and will definitely do it in future.

Your opinion about the importance of reading for upcoming film-makers.

As per my knowledge, a person without the habit of reading can become a director but he cannot survive and become a great film-maker in future. So reading is a much needed quality for a director. They can read in any comfortable language but should continue the habit forever.