**All of you who clicked on this interview looking for director Prem's statements about the 96 story controversy; I must say you'll be disappointed. Owing to the respect he holds for legendary director Bharathiraja and the fact that he already has presented his side of the story in a press meet, we decide to not let the issue take anymore attention. For all those who genuinely loved the film, you must set some time out for this piece.**
Some interviews are beyond questions and answers! Like I usually do, I prepared many questions for director Prem, but today, I'm going to let go off my questions and I plan to hold on to few phrases he used while talking to me to record this most memorable conversation I had with the man behind the beautiful movie 96. Simply because, my questions seemed like an obstacle that came in between our breezy conversation...
I usually never ask anybody's opinions. Especially after all the trouble we went through to release the film I didn't respond to anybody's call or messages for the first 2 weeks post release. My school friends had also tried to reach me on Whatsapp and they were quite surprised that the story was very realistic while they expected it to be very movie-like.
There was no existing movie reference for the characters, scenes, costumes or music! This was consciously done to keep things real and to deviate it from a regular movie. Ram's character was inspired from a real life friend of mine while Janu's dressing style was inspired by my costume designer Subha's dressing style. Subha has been my friend since 1999 and I wanted Janu to dress exactly like her.
When I sat down to write, whenever I thought I was giving into a cliched idea it used to hit me hard. I didn't want the story to enter the bucket of cliche at any point. My assistants and my artists helped me in this process of confronting the cliche. I was pretty clear that I did not want to make a cinema but an entertaining record of a real life incident.
Janu?s character decides come to the re-union not for the sake of the re-union but to get that last chance (may be) to meet Ram. Her intention is not to make Ram see her or be part of the celebration and that is why we decided she'd wear a jean with Kurtha. When you plan a trip in the last moment, you'd pack some dress that you get immediately and leave. The dress she wears reflects the conflict she'd have had when she was in Singapore deciding about the trip. That was the costume idea behind Janu's character.
We initially decided that we will go with Indigo or blue palette as all the elements in the re-union set up was yellow and the complimentary colors were blue or indigo. Subha, cameraman and myself went for shopping and Subha picked this Kurtha while I was out attending to an important call. When I came back I saw Subha and the cameraman looking like they were just out of a head-on fight. Cameraman held a brown kurtha and Subha held a yellow one. The brown was good but I obviously loved the yellow one. We get new ideas in the field and at that time we must be open to adapting that instead of being rigid about our initial idea. But honestly, we didn't expect the dress to become so popular now.
Post the shopping we went to Trisha's house for a dress rehearsal and we were slightly apprehensive whether the kurth'a color go well with Trisha;s complexion. But the moment she walked into the room with that dress I saw the Janu I had written. I saw my character coming to life so gracefully and Subha was flipping out with happiness as it was the first time a star was wearing a costume that she had worked on. We decided to click a few photos of Trisha, and me being a cameraman I was unable to do so as my hands started shivering. That was the first visual reference to my script!
A man who lives a nomadic life has very less Chances of having a romantic relationship. We wanted Ram's character to have very less possibilities of meeting women in life and that was consciously decided for the sake of adding some logic to the story. So for a person like Ram who still hasn't got over his past we wanted to show that even his profession didn't give him room for a new relationship.
For a small town guy, talking to a girl even for the simplest thing is very challenging, It is as challenging as learning to cycle. That is what Ram experiences and me being that guy from a small town like Tanjore, I can substantiate this fact with multiple personal life experiences
Any man who holds true love for a woman, he'll worship that woman. He can talk to any other female comfortably but the girl of his love will make his heart skip a beat and the words might not come out coherently. It is a natural process and beautiful one too. If this is not happening, the man ends up shaming the girl or cursing her when the love fails.
Vijay Sethupathi is an extrovert while Rami is an introvert. To achieve Ram's character well, Sethu and I worked a lot. Even when VIjay Sethupathi delivers a performance with low confidence, it turns out to be a bold performance. Even if Vijay Sethupathi has a legendary Hollywood actor standing in front of him, he'll not feel challenged. So toning Vijay Sethupathi down was a real challenge.
My main criteria for Jaanu's character was a heroine who could speak Tamil well and she must have that "goddess" look not in terms of external beauty but in terms of the inner serenity and purity reflecting on the face. Trisha was my only option when all these points were considered. The way Trisha got into the mood of a song like "Paakatha Paakatha" song from Aaru movie was brilliant and that was exactly what I wanted.
It's Tamil Nadu's fate to watch a romantic film from my desk (laughs). I escaped as 96 involves mental romance more than a physical one.
As I was young too, I always loved the act of narrating a story. I have written short stories and a lot of materials over the years. So, I do have many other stories to tell the world and I will continue to do so. The next might not be a romantic one but I want to try many other genres.
We wanted to emphasis on the current feelings of Jaanu and Ram than what they would have experienced in the past. It was a deliberate effort to not have the flashback where Vijay Sethupathi walks out of Jaanu's wedding with a heavy heart as that emotion would have dominated the current emotion. To create the flashback we used music as we used the mangala vaathiyam with a mourning tone.
Govind doesn't need any reference and all we must do is narrate the mood like a sharp knife. Clear and to the point. Music defines a lot of undefined emotions easily. The 96 album has many innovations. Govind's sounds are going to rock the industry time and again.
Everything you see around you has a bit of the metal Iron in it, similarly there is love in everything. Love is the most powerful thing in this world. It cannot be confined into just a feeling or a emotion but it is a phenomenon that rules the world that can make or break it.