Director Rajesh on ‘Brother’, writing films on interpersonal relationships and the future of comedy

A still from ‘Brother’ and director Rajesh
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Rajesh, the director behind hits like Siva Manasula Sakthi, Boss Engira Bhaskaran andOru Kal Oru Kannadi, often feels like an extension of his films’ heroes; he’s calm, composed, supremely casual and just a joke away from making you laugh out loud. After a slew of films centered around youngsters, his upcoming film Brother, starring Jayam Ravi and Priyanka Mohan, brings him back to doing commercial family entertainers.

Excerpts from a conversation…

Your films have predominantly been about interpersonal relationships. What about excites you such character dynamics?

I take a lot from real-life incidents, and the idea is to narrate these stories appealingly so it’s relatable to the masses. Apart from reflecting on incidents from my personal life, the trope naturally lends to interesting stories and Brother is also such a film.

I’m very attached to my family. Just a few days after the release of Boss Engira Bhaskaran (2010), my father passed away. After engineering, I worked in IT but left that to become an AD and though he didn’t like me getting into films, he watched Siva Manasula Sakthi (2009) in theatres which made him happy. He was slightly perturbed by the fact that the film had drinking sequences. Though the film was a huge success with the youngsters, the family audience was upset about the drinking and the pre-marital sex scene back then. Like every other director, I want everyone to watch my films and Brother will be such a film. The core idea of Brother is based on a friend’s real-life incident. It will be a feel-good, complete family entertainer fit for the festive period.

Speaking of criticism, how do you respond to it considering glorification of drinking or “item” songs are being scrutinized more than before?

I feel the script and casting decide what has to be a part of it. If Santhanam sir is in the film, humour will get prominence. He can be a part of a couple of emotional sequences in an otherwise fun film but it cannot be devoid of comedy scenes. Similarly, I wish to give importance to every character in the film. In Brother too, we have an ensemble and the film cannot be made even without one of them. If an item song helps in the flow of a script or if the film is about gangsters, it might be needed. Brother though has no such scenes.

Priyanka Mohan and Jayam Ravi in a still from ‘Brother’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

While we are at casting, it feels like none of your films are written for particular actors. Is that intentional?

Yes, I first write my script and then figure out who’d fit in it. Brother is set in Ooty and with such a story comes the expense of outdoor shoots and a huge cast list. With a film like this without grand action sequences, music has to be exceptional and we have Harris Jayaraj sir on board. When so many attributes come together, it needs a star like Jayam Ravi sir. I met him during the shoot of Agilan and his lineup was filled with thrillers. I narrated three scripts and he chose this one as it’s been very long since he has done such a film and when I looked at the final product, I realised his judgement was right.

Do you tweak the script once you have finalised your lead cast?

Yes, every actor has their strengths and with Ravi sir, though he’s great with humour, he is brilliant with emotional sequences. He has proved it in films like Santhosh Subramaniyam and Unakkum Enakkum, and Brother will be one such film. It’s not often that the entire crew claps in unison after a successful shot and his acting made it happen during the shoot.

You are known for your films and when you came into the industry, it’s when the idea of comedy tracks started to diminish and you were instrumental in bringing the buddy comedy films. With this phase faded now, how’s humour being treated from a writing perspective?

As you mentioned, I think the buddy comedy trend started with Siva Manasula Sakthi and many films with similar tropes came after that. That trend has ended with comedians turning heroes. Scripts which naturally have space for humour work. If comedy is forced into a film, it might not work anymore. It might provide momentary gags but they’ll be forgotten the moment the audience walks out of the theatre. Though it’s nice to see comedians turning heroes, we don’t have comedians now. A new generation of comedians are already out there and they’ll get mainstream soon.

Jayam Ravi in a still from ‘Brother’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

‘Brother’ also marks your reunion with Harris Jayaraj and the ‘Makkamishi’ track has gone viral. How did that come about?

Just like OKOK for me, Ravi sir’s collaboration with him, Engeyum Kadhal, was also a huge hit and we were particular about roping in Harris sir. ‘Makkamishi’ is an opening song and while trying to nail it, sir’s keyboard programmer referred rap singers and one of them was Paal Dabba whose actual name is Anish. We listened to his ‘Ai Ai Ai’ track which was fun and funky. Harris sir loved it too and we got him on board. Unlike professional lyricists, we cannot ask them to work on a tune and we asked him to freestyle it but he wanted a beat which Harris sir created right on his mobile phone. Anish came up with ‘Makkamishi’ which apparently means pride-filled greatness and we started jamming with it. The idea is to speak about society and that’s why it has everything from voting to rainwater harvesting.

Is there a reason you have not worked with the A-listers of the industry?

That’s been a long-time wish but the stars are concentrating on big-scale action films. For their scale of films the genre too fits in perfectly as the films have to work beyond our borders as well. Very rarely, like Varisu for Vijay sir, do they want to do a family entertainer. They won’t accept an action script from me (laughs) as the actors want to collaborate with me for a family story or a fun script aimed at youngsters.

It ultimately comes down to the business aspects. Jai Bhimdirector TJ Gnanavel has done Vettaiyan on a whole new scale with an ensemble cast. When we have to do a film that has to do well in other languages as well as overseas, the space for experimentation is limited. That said, a film like Meiyazhagan is being received well by the audience which is a healthy trend. An actor like Karthi could have continued with action films like Sardar but to break that and do a film like this is a big deal. The frequency of such films has reduced and I wish we get more of them.