'I am a woman filmmaker with a difference'

It is a male dominated field, but debutant filmmaker Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi is confident of making a mark despite making an entry with an unconventional flick. “A director is a director. The question of gender doesn’t come here at all,” says Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi. 

Speaking about her upcoming film, Vanakkam Chennai, she says, “Divyanathan and I have been working on the script for a year and a half. Moreover, I showed the script to Sashikanth (Y NOT Studios), director Rajesh and Pushkar-Gayatri. They were impressed with it and told me to go ahead."

However, she refutes rumours of having approached Samantha for the female lead. “We approached only Sunaina but since there was a date clash, Priya Anand was roped in,” she says.

The director is all praise for her lead actors. "Both Shiva and Priya Anand lived their roles, always going that extra mile in search of perfection. Including Vishnu Vishal's wife Rajini, there are three women assistant directors. With everyone helping out each other, the comfort level at the work spot was complete."

Talking about the movie’s title, she says it has a lot of relevance to the story, and the audience will know it as they watch it. “I have done a few short films. The conviction and passion towards cinema has made me direct a full length movie,” smiles Kiruthiga, adding that her movie would be a thorough entertainer that has more to offer than the usual dance and romance. "First-time women directors make movies that deliver only social messages. But I am completely different!"

“We have begun shooting and 70 per cent of the movie is over. We are planning to have the audio release by June and the movie will be released by August,” Kiruthiga informs. 

So will her producer-actor husband Udhayanidhi be seen in a cameo role in the film?  “There’s nothing like that. As of now, I can’t reveal anything. But he loved the script and made a few suggestions like any other producer."

“Only when my movie runs successfully in theatres, I consider myself of having passed the exam,” she adds. However, she refuses to comment on her future projects. "Let me first complete this and then think about the next."

Produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin under his home banner Red Giant Movies, the movie also has Santhanam, Rahul Ravindran (Vinmeengal fame) and Urvashi. With five songs in the album, Anirudh Ravichander has scored the background music. Cinematography is handled by Richard M Nathan and editing by TS Suresh.

(The piece was originally written for The New Indian Express)