Leading Tamil filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj has struck gold once again with his latest film, Jigarthanda DoubleX, which has been declared a blockbuster. The film starring Raghava Lawrence and SJ Suryah in the lead roles and featuring music by Santhosh Narayanan is continuing to witness a strong audience turnout in theatres, with praise pouring in for the entire team. With fans still debating the topics discussed in Jigarthanda DoubleX, including the impact of cinema as a whole, director Karthik Subbaraj recently sat down with Galatta to talk about why he was a bit nervous before the film's release, while also opening up about his writing approach.
Speaking about Jigarthanda DoubleX, Karthik Subbaraj said, "The response has been overwhelming because I was confident that the film would connect with audiences on an emotional level. But, I was also nervous since Jigarthanda was more in the humor zone, while this progressed on a serious path. I was optimistic, but also slightly anxious about whether they would see that as jarring and not accept the film. The way this film has been received by the audience has left us all extremely happy and the response has been beyond what we had expected."
In regard to the writing in Jigarthanda DoubleX, Karthik Subbaraj stated, "There is a story till the second half of the film and after that, it shows where it is going to take him (SJ Suryah). In order to change the story of his life for a film, he's being taken to a new place. Up until that point, there was a story. But, I didn't have a strong reason for where he was being taken to and what goes on to happen next as a result. In that way, almost nine years passed and during the post-production of Mahaan before its release, Lawrence sir asked me whether we could do the film. I just took some time then and thought about it. At the time, I read some material about forests for another script and suddenly felt that this might connect with [Jigarthanda DoubleX]. After that, I did some research and read books, and it all fell into place. Once the elephant poaching idea came into the story, I felt the script was complete. And, I then decided to dive in deeper and work on it, and took another three months to write the screenplay."
Watch Karthik Subbaraj talk about Jigarthanda DoubleX in the video below: