The director of Lubber Pandhu, Tamizharasan Pachamuthu’s caller tune is Nirpathuve Nadapathuve, a Bharathiyar song that found place in the 2000 Tamil film about the poet. “I love the meaning of the song which says everyone is equal and why we are fighting over trivial things. I listened to it during school time, and began to like it, be it the vocals or the tune. It was also a song that I needed,” he says.

And just like that, Tamizharasan’s debut film Lubber Pandhu featuring Harish Kalyan and Attakathi Dinesh, also advocates for equality in society, but in the most subtle manner and entertaining manner, through a game of cricket and dash of romance. Lubber Pandhu which is an interestingly woven family drama that brings sports and egoistic nature of humans to the fore, focusses on two men who share one common interest in cricket. What is your earliest memory of cricket? Tamizharasan says, “The first scene which shows a young Anbu coming to cricket ground to play wearing school uniform, was me once a upon a time. My priority was always cricket.”

Lubber Pandhu director Tamizharasan Pachamuthu Interview

Tamizharasan’s film is about people who love cricket and need not necessarily aspire to be cricketers, which itself takes a nuanced approach to make sports drama. “There is a person back home who served as inspiration for Dinesh anna’s character. He would be a bravado on ground, but at home, he is the opposite and extremely silent. I began to write with these two characters, and after seeing a film like Ayyappanum Koshiyum, I was further intrigued to write two characters, create a world around them, and do a story,” the director says.

Emphasising on how he is clear to have repeat audience for his films, Tamizharasan says it’s family dramas that help him with the aspect. He adds, “I am skeptical to make thrillers because once you get to know twists and turns, repeat value is lost. I was determined to build a world, and how can I connect audiences across centres, and ages. It was also kept in mind while writing the script.”

It was never an intention of the director to make a film that talks about the caste oppression, rather than talk the lifestyle which includes it. “When I show the lifestyle and lives of people in a place, I also will show the caste angle to it, but not in way that will affect the story. I merely want to create it as a character rather than create as a major conflict. It was also an attempt to show the place as real as possible,” he adds.

‘To bring caste as conflict not my intention’

Even as Lubber Pandhu does not outwardly talks about caste oppression prevalent in the society, the film beautifully entwines the world of the characters to sports and drama. This is shown through the between characters Gethu and Asodhai who eloped to have an inter-caste marriage. The film, in stages, reveals who among them suffered the brunt of the caste system, but not in a straight forward manner. To this, Tamizharasan says that one does not introduce themselves by their caste, and all the subtilities are understood even in real life, which he also endorses. In another instance, where a woman plays cricket with men, Tamizharasan makes sure he leaves breadcrumbs in between a song montages, to make sure there is enough given for audience to guess, and a surprise factor as well when she comes on field.

The director says it was Jenson Divakar's character as Kozhandhai the most difficult to write. A right hand to Gethu, Tamizharasan says, "It should not become negative because second half people should support him, but in the first half he is against the hero. It was most difficult to write because he is the source of the issue as well as a support system. I was very skeptical if audience would accept him, and would he be a good or bad person. But even in life, we are a mix of both. So, every character of mine has a flaw and are not pure human beings."

‘Ego is driving force of the film’

Lubber Pandhu is on the lines of films like Parking and Driving License, which makes male ego a great fodder to drive the drama. Similarly exploiting the ego between Anbu and Gethu, Tamizharasan says, “Ego is a feeling when you have petty grudges on people and ego trips work on that. For example, Asodhai scolds Gethu so much and even then, he never gets angry, but Anbu’s simple hello, riles him up. And in between these men, we bring Kozhandhai who we have earlier made it clear is a person who blows matters out of proportion.”

The director also continues to talk about the unorthodox ending of the film, which deviates from a typical fashion of heroes winning at the end. Even as Lubber Pandhu culminates in a match which sees the protagonists giving up on winning for a larger good, he says, “Venkatesan is the character we need to have change in. What can bring a change in him? We have also established both Anbu and Gethu have tastes successes. When we see who need the victory at this point, it is the opposition party who need success to learn. But at the same time, we also cannot make the heroes lose without having a valid reason. I also don’t endorse glorifying victory.”

“I am a Vijayakanth fan first, director next”

The film has several tributes to late actor Vijayakanth, be it a mural in Gethu’s house or the yesteryear hits that play when he is batting. Being a massive Vijayakanth fan himself, Tamizharasan says he has seen his films in theatres since childhood. “He is a massive star, but I did not see him being celebrated so much. Just like many people have celebrated the stars they adored; I want to do my tribute to him. So, I made Gethu’s character a fan of the actor. While thinking whom to have for Anbu, who is next generation, Vijay was a natural choice.”

Tamizharasan is a director who sticks to his script while shooting, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have room for improvisations. “I never do any major changes on the sets, but we do play around staging. About 90% of what you see is already written on paper. I had also written the cricket commentary on the paper.”

Talking about the sequel, and the possibilities, he says, “We have built a world that people have enjoyed it so far. Given favourable circumstances, we can do a sequel to Lubber Pandhu.”

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