Writer, cinematographer, and filmmaker Prem Kumar, who last made 96, was in the middle of thousand things while working for his sophomore directorial Meiyazhagan starring Karthi and Arvind Swamy. And naturally, it is evident that the director of a film would be busiest during the days that lead up to the release. After a few attempts to reach out to him, Prem Kumar’s prompt replies and eventual sparing of time, more than promised, reveals the director’s dedication to note the details and recall later. This interview too, is full of details on his films 96 and Meiyazhagan.

Director Prem Kumar Interview

The teaser of Meiyazhagan promptly registered one aspect of the film, it would be predominantly about two men, played by Karthi and Arvind Swamy. They share a brother-like relationship, and the latter seems to be man of few words like Karthi’s role is both naïve and childlike. What’s the idea behind exploring the relationship between two men, I ask.

“It is unique, but the story was first written as a novel and meant to be published. I had Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth’s faces while writing it. Even otherwise, all my stories are first written as a novel, then I try to reconstruct as a script. In fact, 96 is a bigger novel that has six chapters, while what you have seen is half of one of the chapters. Even 96 is not a love story but based on these two characters. With Meiyazhagan, even though it is too early to reveal the story, it is something on how we might lose something so good in our life that shatters us too much and we might begin to not accept many other good things later. There will be a cycle that goes on and as we are on the receiving end at the most unexpected time, this film is a journey of that phase,” Prem Kumar says as he adds how the film about the changes that happen in our lives after a particular pain or loss.

The director admits that he does not know the rules or factors set by the industry standards. “I don’t know, and never wanted to learn that either. There are books on how to write a screenplay, three-act structure and many elements, but I don’t know them despite doing diploma in film technology. I cannot restrict art within set of tools, be it cinematography or writing and editing. Somewhere I keep forgetting the rules and writing became unusual,” he mentions.

‘My work as cinematographer has helped me a lot’

Prem Kumar who worked as cinematographer in films like Pasanga, Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, and Sundarapandian, says that his role as the technician has immensely helped him when he is writing, subconsciously. "When I had to break someone's story as shots and rejoin as scenes in the art of shit division. That is where the first editing happens with images, whereas the writer would have already penned an editing pattern," Prem Kumar says.

Would that involve storyboarding? "Not exactly that because sometimes it doesn't work in our context always because the landscape of shooting here is very unpredictable, unless they are very planned shoots. For example, the climax of 96 had storyboarding. But in most cases, we need to present a scene with emotional value which is more valuable than obeying the storyboard. You need to be constantly evolving and that is something I learnt quickly during my early days as assistant cameraman. It helped me, but you should leave the mentality of a lensman to be a filmmaker. Otherwise, you will be only shooting, not directing."

Both 96, and Meiyazhagan are stories that take place over a short span of time. With 96, a film that explores a reunion of two former lovers, Meiyazhagan takes place over one night. Asked about how he plays with wafer-thin plotlines, Prem Kumar says, “If 96 is a thin line, then Meiyazhagan is even thinner. But I don’t believe very strong conflicts, twists and turns, to shock the audience. I am not against it, but I don’t thread on that path.” Further explaining, he says that the emotional thrill he gets out of the way his characters act, is what that gives him the kick of storytelling.

Speaking about Karthi’s character which exhibits childlike innocence, Prem Kumar says, “The character is based on my friend, and director who came all the way from village to make a film. He did a film called Asuravadham, Maruthu Pandiyar. His traits have been placed in Karthi’s character. I have also borrowed a plumber who visited my house, whose traits too are in his character. They are all innocent, not ignorant or mentally retarded. They are absolutely perfect people who conscious decision to remain that way. We may think they don’t know but they are just blissfully unaware.”

‘Meiyazhagan is very emotional movie’

Prem Kumar and his team shot the film in sync sound. Why is the decision? “It is a very emotional movie, even though you will not have extreme scenes where you scream and scene. These are moments that will melt your heart, and the changes that your voice has while performing them, to ask them to emote at a dubbing studio, is a crime and injustice you do to actors. To make them repeat in the unlikeliest surrounding. Hence, I decided sync sound is a must. We also had a conducive environment to execute, and with help of the team, we could do it. It was a risky decision, but I confidently recommend this technique to everyone,” Prem Kumar explains.

The director strongly believes that only a few people can justify a few characters, one being the role played by Arvind Swamy and Karthi. “It might sound like an exaggerated statement, but the intensity of a character can change depending on who performs them. We have at least 10 great actors in our industry, but we should also look into their physical stature, their offscreen personality, chemistry. In that way, I found Karthi and Arvind Swamy indispensable in these characters.” Stating how Karthi has a tinge of innocence in his performance which he wanted to exploit that, Prem Kumar says there might be actors who might have delivered the film good, but Karthi and Arvind Swamy made Meiyazhagan levelled up the characters he wrote.

It was the same case with 96 too, when Prem Kumar was adamant that it was Vijay Sethupathi who should do the role. “If he had said no, I would not have done 96. But at one point, he asked me who else I would have cast if not for him. The answer again was Karthi, which he too agreed. But it was my first film and I was no one. Had he said no, I did not have the potential to do it. With Trisha, we did have her dates and I had to narrate to many people since it was also my first film. I was also open that Trisha was my first option. Even other actors agreed with my decision to cast Trisha. That strengthened by casting choice and I waited for Trisha,” he reveals.

‘I am a writer fundamentally’

Prem Kumar says that his wish has always been a writer, after which only he learnt cinematography and direction. “Direction is still not on my wish list. It was my compulsion because I have to direct my own films. The reason why we could not have writers more is because remake rights is a business by its own, and when a writer is included, they have their rights and in case of multiple of them, consent from each of them is needed. That is a separate legal process. There is also a need for a director to get writer’s consent when they want to make some changes,” Prem Kumar says.

Acknowledging that it is a complicated process, the director advocates for writers’ collaboration and the department is very important. “Writers usually have strong ideas and are well-read. When a filmmaker collaborates with multiple writers, there can be abundant layers to bring to a story. Whereas a director is more to do with execution and might repeat themselves than explore like writers,”

Concluding this chat, I ask a question if Meiyazhagan too will bring tears roll down our cheeks, just like 96 did. “If 96 made you cry in sadness, Meiyazhagan will bring you happy tears,” he signs off.

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