Galatta Media has hosted events celebrating cinema over the years, including India’s most credible and colossal digital media awards ceremony, The Galatta Crown, in 2022, while also organizing the Nakshathra Awards 2018, Galatta Debut Awards 2019, Galatta Nakshatra Awards 2019, Galatta Wonder Women Awards 2019, Galatta Indian Cinema Conclave 2022, Galatta Digital Stars 2022, Galatta Plus Mega Roundtable 2022, and Galatta Plus Tamil Cinema Roundtable 2022. In that light, Galatta Plus The Debut Directors Roundtable 2023 hosted by National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, was held recently celebrating the up-and-coming filmmakers in Tamil cinema, who hit the bullseye in their first outing among whom included Vinayak Chandrasekaran (Good Night), Vignesh Raja (Por Thozhil), Ganesh K. Babu (Dada) and Arul Subramaniam (Pattu).
With the discussion at Galatta Plus The Debut Directors Roundtable 2023 primarily centered around each of the filmmakers' first films, director Vinayak Chandrasekaran opened up on choosing Manikandan for the role of Mohan, while also sharing his thoughts about why he stood firm in his stance with the casting in Good Night. He said, "When I began writing this story, the origin of Mohan's character began when I saw Manikandan in Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum. There's one particular scene where he goes for a fight with Vijay Sethupathi. At that time, he will tell Vijay Sethupathi that there's a possibility of rainfall. That specific moment was personally a big inspiration for me to cast him in the role of Mohan in Good Night. Likewise, there's a confrontation scene between him (Manikandan) and Rajinikanth sir in Kaala when he decides to leave the house. All these aspects were embedded in me on a subconscious level when I was writing the Mohan character for Manikandan." He continued, "When I was writing Ramesh Thilak's character, I wrote it as Ramesh since Thilak is my father's name. And, I was very adamant about casting them, which led to several rejections from various productions since they had their own heroes in mind. When I look back now at how things turned out, I don't know how I managed to cross those instances with such confidence. But, I was extremely adamant about wanting them to be a part of the cast since I was particular about not making this feel like a film."
Watch Good Night director Vinayak Chandrasekaran at the Galatta Plus The Debut Directors Roundtable 2023 below:
