The Sarathkumar and Ashok Selvan-starrer Por Thozhil is the talk of the town and debutant filmmaker Vignesh Raja is on cloud nine after the phenomenal response to the film. With the crime thriller turning out to be a critical and commercial success, director Vignesh Raja recently sat down with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, to talk about the film, while also opening up on the one scene he felt nervous to shoot.
Speaking to Baradwaj Rangan, Por Thozhil director Vignesh Raja started off by saying, "The roleplay scene comes in at about the end of Act 1. So, it comes right at around the 30th-minute mark and I think it is the longest scene in the film. And, even when we were writing, it was very interesting because basically what's happening is Sarath sir's character is actually profiling the killer. He's getting into the mind of the killer. In the process, he's sort of telegraphing his acceptance to Ashok Selvan." He added, "Until this point, he's been really putting him down and now he's like, 'Okay, let me just warm up to this guy'. So, it's a very challenging scene to direct because it's very talky. And, it's just two characters in a forest. So, there are no props like no chair to sit on and drink water. No business basically. It was very challenging and I was very nervous directing because on the page we knew it was working because it will be very interesting and new for the audience because they haven't seen this kind of an investigation into the mind of a killer." Vignesh Raja continued, "So, when we were doing that, not just this scene, but the entire film plays through the point of view of Ashok Selvan. Whenever I'm in doubt, I just go to his lens and what is he feeling now. So, how is he seeing Sarath sir? How is he seeing the killer? How's he seeing himself? Is he agitated? Is he calm? Will he listen to his surroundings? That was like the filter which I tried to eliminate the other choices."
Watch Por Thozhil director Vignesh Raja in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan in the video below:
