Comments on: Interview: Selvaraghavan

By: Qalandar

Qalandar — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:33:33 +0000

Someone tell Selvaraghavan he needs to ensure that a subtitled version of Puthupettai gets released — this is one of the very few major Tamil films from recent years not to be available with english subtitles, and it’s driving me crazy!!!

Great work as always, Baradwaj…

By: vijay

vijay — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:56:38 +0000

“And though selvaraghavans’ movie is more about characters, still i dont understand how come in an interview the music,photography in his films were not discussed in length or even not discussed at all…..”

Theres nothing much to discuss there, esp. w.r.t. music. The music is most of the time barely above average(including his latest film AO), the song picturizations unimaginative and the songs themselves are an afterthought.Its as if Selva is bored with songs but wants to have it anyways for commercial saleability. Even a Gautam Menon beats him black and blue in that department

By: brangan

brangan — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:48:18 +0000

Hemanth: “About the Sonia Agarwal… I thought it was a very essential one…” I agree. The character made even more sense when I saw the film a second time. I mean, it’s not as if she immediately starts pressing his feet.

The Normal Guy: The grey shades aren’t on screen, but I meant that they must have been in the character (outside of screen). As an anarchist, you don’t think someone can be this kind and nice all the time — the token posters on the wall and the vague references to activism is all we got on screen. And that’s fine. It’s the director’s prerogative what he wants to show and how he wants to treat a character. I was just observing that Mani chose to push the grey shades () to the back and gave us a charmer, whereas Selva doesn’t care to hide the “badness” of his characters. So where I was going wasn’t about Karthik (specifically) in the film so much as how directors treat their characters.

By: The Normal Guy

The Normal Guy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:54:21 +0000

@ brangan : What are the grey shades you saw in the character Karthik played from Mouna Ragam ?
Making her wait in the bus stop and being relentlessly stubborn in his pursuit? Or his angry young man persona?
cos I didnt or dont seem to realise that there are some grey shades to his character.

By: Hemanth

Hemanth — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:19:45 +0000

Thank you for another insightful interview.

About the Sonia Agarwal character in ‘Pudupettai’, I thought it was a very essential one and the farthest from being fake.

Yes, she could have left him, but she exacts her revenge by staying right next to him and her taunts were especially piercing. Her transformation from innocence to a shrewd play was amazing.

By: Hrishi

Hrishi — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:39:15 +0000

Baradwaj…great interview.

I really appreciate one quality you consistently dsiplay which is probably a must to be a great critic…you dont expect movies to turn out the way you would have liked them to.

I guess at the end of the day, films like 7G come out of a mind thats throbbing with interesting experiences and ideas, and are the product of a fertile mind.

With such filmmakers – its hard not to like their movies.

By: VJ

VJ — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:35:54 +0000

If he was so frank to confess when he lost his virginity maybe you should have asked him about Yuvan and why they broke up ?

By: brangan

brangan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:35:37 +0000

naren Says: “still i dont understand how come in an interview the music,photography in his films were not discussed in length or even not discussed at all…” And why is this necessary for an interview for a paper (as opposed to writing a book on him)? The attempt was just to do something impressionistic.

Adithya: “Kadhal Kondain”? Hmmm… I didn’t care much for it. I think 7G and Pudhupettai are vastly better. BTW, I didn’t quite see a Scarface connection in the latter.

Maru: But that’s always the deal with any interviewee right? Only they know if they’re telling the truth, so all we can do is hope for something “interesting” or “revealing” rather than something “true.” For all you know, everything he said here may be in order to project an image. Then again, everything could also be true. Whether watching a film or talking to an artist, a certain amount of psychoanalytical self-projection (and takeaway) is necessary

By: Maru

Maru — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:46:47 +0000

Interesting piece! Perhaps you caught him in a reflective, expansive mood. But remarks such as the one about his first sexual encounter leave me with the nagging feeling that this image of a matter of fact guy who tells gritty stories about wastrels with poetry in his soul is as carefully crafted a character as those in any of his movies!

By: pipa

pipa — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:39:51 +0000

Boys can’t go to convent schools since they are run by nuns!

I suppose he meant English-medium schools.