Expressing his love for cinema, filmmaker Pa Ranjith said that the visual medium could be used to create a debate and question the lopsided history.
Speaking at the audio launch of his upcoming movie Thangalaan on Monday, August 5, the anti-caste director said that cinema can lead us to histories that have never been told.
“I believe cinema can create debates. Those debates will raise certain questions. In our search for the answers to these questions we will uncover the questions and answers that history has failed to even ask. That’s what I believe my cinema does and that is my strength. I am my politics. Without it, I am nothing. I would not be standing here,” the director said.
Thangalaan which is set to release on August 15, stars Vikram, Parvathy, Malavika Mohan, Daniel Caltagirone, Pasupathy, and among others. After Sarpatta Parambarai (2021), this Ranjith’s second period drama. The film goes even further back in time to the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) of colonial India. The film tells that history from the KGF’s perspective of indigenous communities.
The director also recalled how watching world cinema in his student days made him think about the need to speak for marginalised communities through films. “I became a filmmaker only because of how popular a medium cinema is in India, how it lets you tell the histories that have never been told.”
He further added, “Uncovering these histories made me ask ‘why is my place in this history the way it is? What are the problems of my people and me? Why was such an injustice committed to such a large group of people? Why are they suppressed? Why is there so much divisiveness?’. But when I searched through historic records for the answers I realised that history itself is written one-sided.”
Ranjith, who is known for making movies representing the marginalised communities, thanked his lead actors for being part of Thangalaan.
“I was hesitant about approaching Vikram. I wasn’t sure if he would agree to work in line with my politics. I don’t think I even explained the plot very well to him, but I feel like he understood my soul and what I wanted to say [through the film].”
The director also praised Vikram’s previous work and his dedication to his roles in terms of method acting. He dropped a hint that Vikram’s character of Thangalaan would possibly have been called Kaadaiyan earlier in the story. “Thangalaan is already a character from a long time ago, Kaadaiyan is from even longer ago. But he became that character.”
He also spoke highly of Pasupathy who appears to be an antagonist in the film. “All we told him was this is your character. He transformed into him completely, including bringing out the character’s dialect.”
Ranjith also thanked actor Parvathy saying that he had followed her work since Poo (2008). I felt that if I was to ask her to act in my film, I should first write a character specifically for her.
Further, he praised Malavika for her commitment to her stunt sequences, adding that despite her fatigue and the difficulty of the role. she would do as many takes as he asked of her.
While concluding his speech, Ranjith spoke about Dr Ambedkar’s impact on his life and work: “I am nothing without Babasaheb Ambedkar. I want to say my thanks to him. It was him who pushed me to speak for my people and has brought me to this stage today. I will continue to be his voice, his student and his disciple.”