rekhs (with a small r) is not your usual film technician. She came to the limelight in 2010 and is already a brand name to reckon with. 424 film old rekhs pioneered the concept of subtitling and made it relevant in the Tamil film industry in a career spanning 7 years. Apart from working in National award-winning films like Thenmaerku Parvakaatru, Vaagai Soodava, Saivam, Vazhakku En 18/9, 24,etc, she has also worked with big directors like Bala (Tharai Thappatai), Shankar (Nanban), Gautham Menon (VTV) and stars like Rajinikanth (Kabali), Vijay, Suriya, Telugu star Vishnu Manchu, Malayalam star Mammootty among many others. The lady, who is a well-recognised name in the film circles caught up with MovieCrow in her super-tight schedule and spoke to us at length about her career, films and more.

You've spoken many times about how you ventured into sub-titling. But what was your journey before that?

My mother was the editor of Macmillan and hailed from a very aristocratic and forward background. So for me, growing up as a child meant reading a book a day no matter how much I cribbed about it. I was married at the age of 19 and as I'd like to term it I was a GMGW -Good Mother Good Wife, taking care of my three beautiful children and husband before I started Sankalp, a costume designing unit in 1993. Since I was a fashion designer by profession, I took care of the costume department for the film Thoovaanam in 2007 which was co-directed by my husband, Haricharan.

When I realised that the movie had to be sent to Mumbai for getting sub-titled, the question that I had in my mind was "how is anyone who doesn't speak Tamil as their native language going to be better at subtitling than the one who does?". So when I was asked to do it, I decided to go-ahead.

You are the busiest name in subtitling today. Which film do you think gained you the most recognition?

Well, it was Enthiran in 2010 which really brought my work to the audience's attention. Thanks to Facebook and twitter, I've been able to keep a track of what the audience think of my work. Kabali was a real break-through as I was noticed for using adjectives for even a laugh; instead of using (laughing), I used adjectives like "scornful laughter" and that was received very well. As well as emoticons for the various laughter in Scrabble format -1st time in subtitling I think world over.

But my biggest achievement so far has to be Baahubali 2, which as everyone knows is a brand people want to be associated with. It was a completely younger generation I worked with and there was a lot of mutual learning on the film.

What is your work process while approaching a film?

After I am given the film to subtitle, it's with the editor that I co-ordinate predominantly to be in sync with the flow of the film. I get the rest of my inputs from the ADs (associate directors), lyricists as and when required.

Do you work alone on a film or is there a team involved?

Initially it was just my daughter sraiyanti and me but when she went off to study cinematography in Bournemouth, I handpicked a team as committed as I am. Currently my Tamil team has harini, kirthi, seth, krish and usha; we all go by our first names without a capital letter in front. My Telugu team is headed by gowri and my Malayalam team is headed by latha ambat (cinematographer Madhu Ambat' s equal-half!).

You have subtitled the film of this season, Mersal. Anything interesting you've done with it?

When Vivek who has penned the Maayon Magic song (in Mersal) told me the idea behind the lyrics (it was a tribute to Vijay's fans), I had to break my usual norm of using rhyming words and incorporate the message "To His Fans" Read Here using only the last letters of the translated lyrics. Also while writing subs for the Allu Sillu song, I realized that unlike what most people had perceived the meaning to be (which was tiny tots / children), Allu Sillu meant people who were lazing around or whiling their time away.

You know, Mersal is my 3rd consecutive film with Atlee and 10th consecutive film with Vijay. I was called in by Shankar (director) for a miss-and-blink role in Nanban and that is where I met Vijay. When I told him about having subtitled Kaavalan and the vision I had for subtitling, he liked the idea of it and has been sending me his films ever since. But it was only when Kaavalan made it to Shangai Film Festival and he flew down to be a part of it, did he understand the impact of subtitling. (Fun fact : Kaavalan is the only film ever of Vijay's to have made it to a Film Festival)

Talking about miss-and-blink roles, you seem to have done quite a few of them. Any interest in pursuing acting?

Not at all. I think a lot of directors call me for my unique salt & pepper now turning platinum hairstyle (laughs). But my heart and soul lies with sub-titling and that is what I want to be doing.

You've spent close to 7 years working with films. Is there anything you would like to change about them?

Since I am a professional fashion designer, I feel that instead of allotting separate costume designers for each actor, there should be one person heading it all. Films are a visual medium and its important we retain the colour co-ordination. The same goes for lyricists. I do not understand why different lyricists are used for different songs. Look how well Vivek has understood Mersal and added his slice to the film!

Although immediate need of the hour would be proper planning and time co-ordination by film-makers. When Bollywood can fix a particular release date 1 to 2 years from now and stick by it, I feel we could too. Only when proper time is given for post-production, be it the VFX work or dubbing or even subtitling, does the final product come out well.

Its the season of Diwali. A message you'd like to give our readers

When I started out, subtitling wasn't even a thing people heard of or did in our industry. Now, Tamil cinema has accepted it to the level of featuring me as a part of their film in their media promotions. One of my doctor friends recommended using the colour yellow (instead of the usual white) for subtitles, as it is easy on the eyes and now every film in the industry has yellow subs. Till recently you couldn't use emoticons in subtitles, Kabali showed we can do that too!

So if there's even one girl reading this interview realizes that if you put your heart and soul into something you like, follow your dream and dedicate yourself to it, then there is no stopping the heights that can be reached; I would be on cloud 9!

Women should learn to live life on their own terms without rocking the boat of 'marriage and family' This is something I would like every girl child, teenager, bride, woman, mother, grandmother to follow.