Filmmaker Vasanth S Sai, who made the critically acclaimed ‘Shivaranjiniyam Inam Sila Pengalam’, talks about the men and women who shaped his vision
Dressed in a sari, her hair in a neat braid, an umbrella peeking from her handbag hanging over her shoulder, a firm move: think of Vasanth S Sai’s film heroine and that’s the image that comes to mind.
She is always on the move: on her way to catch the bus to work; Riding a scooter to make an appointment with someone … in his latest Sivaranjiniyam Inum Sila Pengalum Also, he is constantly on his feet.
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The film, which released on SonyLIV last month, is one of the most talked about films of the year.
“I don’t think I would have been so happy about the reception of the film, even if it had released theatrically,” says Vasanth, who is in Coimbatore to attend the award ceremony of Vishnupuram Literary Circle. Vasant admitted that he was initially intent on the film being shown on the big screen.
“The film’s journey began in 2018 when it won the Gender Equality Award at the Mumbai Film Festival. From there, it traveled to film festivals around the world in 2019, and was the first Tamil film to be screened in most of them. I had to give it a place for this journey,” he added. By the time they prepared it for release in late 2019, the pandemic had spread. Vasant finally decided to release it on OTT, as he felt “it will get old” otherwise.
Read also | ‘Shivaranjiniyam Inum Sila Pengalam’ movie review: An extraordinary portrayal of the ordinary
OTT, he feels, “is a welcome change for films with serious subjects. The platforms help the audience to watch important films with intense concentration, enjoying the many nuances they have to offer. ,
sivaranjinyum… is an anthology, consisting of three films of 40 minutes each, each based on the stories of master Tamil writers Ashokamitran, Adhavan and B Jayamohan. The cast includes actors Parvati Thiruvothu, Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli and Kaleshwari Srinivasan.
The film explores the worlds of three married women: their wishes, dreams and small joys often covered under the carpet unknowingly by the men in their lives. It makes for a powerful social commentary, which Vasant says has roots in the filmmaker’s school of thought for Balachander, which he considers his inspiration.
critical thinking
The women in Vasant tales shine with their personality traits which they admire in the women in their lives.
“It can be confidence, kindness, and perseverance despite their struggles. For a lot of women, it’s never or that. It’s this and that.” sivaranjinyum…Finally, Vasant explains, talking about how women, in order to please the people in their lives, often fail to please themselves. “It shows that you are important too. Your happiness matters,” he says.
Spring’s questions on society’s unfair standards for women began when he was 10 years old. “When I was a little boy, the street on Sunday mornings was for playing cricket. But that was when my mother used to send me to work. We used to live in Alwarpet then and when she used to go to her friend to take notes on zoology, she used to ask me to walk with my sister going to college. I found it strange: I was just 10 years old, but here I expected to take my sister just because I was a man,” he says.
Slowly, as he grew up, and began to read, he found the answers. Reading shaped his thinking, and Vasant says that it is his mother who initiated him into literature. He recalls, “The only image I thought of my mother was her sitting in an easy chair with a book.” “When I was in fifth or sixth grade, she used to send me to a library in Nandanam to borrow books,” he says. Will give.” When he later started reading, the names started coming back rapidly.
Vasant had started writing in his undergraduate years. He wrote short stories, worked as a freelance journalist, and even set up a small library at home. In fact, his love for literature brought him to Coimbatore to participate in the recently organized Vishnupuram literary event. “I spent the whole day listening to young and senior writers. I enjoy it,” he says. He hopes to share everything he learns with people. “That’s my philosophy. Since I’m a filmmaker, I do that through my films.”
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