K.S.RAVIKUMAR is Tamil cinema's big-budget survivor. At
a time when the industry thinks that small budget movies
with new comers is the future, Ravikumar still trusts
only the superstars. He is the number one commercial
director who has made huge box-office hits like Muthu,
Nattamai, Avvai Shanmukhi, Padayappa, Tenali, Villain
which were not only blockbusters but also got rave
reviews. His last film was Ethiree, a film that was also
a hit with Madhavan in the lead. And after Jaggubhai, a
film with superstar was abandoned, Ravikumar was lying
low, but has once again bounced back by announcing his
latest film Godfather with Ajith in the lead. Excerpts of
an interview with the director
Is Godfather inspired from Francis Ford Coppola’s
classic?
It has nothing to do with Coppola’s Godfather. My film
is about a business tycoon and his twin sons and all the
three roles are done by Ajithh. We thought Godfather has a
good title value. And that’s why the title.
So can we expect all the masalas associated with a
Ravikumar film?
(Smiles) Absolutely, it is a typical mass entertainer
and will strike a balance between style and substance.
My combination with Ajith has worked in the past and I
have the support of a dream team this time.
Can you elaborate on the team?
The film is produced by Nic Arts Chakravarthy. Music is
by A.R.Rahman and art director is Thotta Tharani and
camera is by P.C.Sreeram and lyrics are by Variamuthu.
You combination with superstars like Rajnikanth,
Kamal Hassan, Sarath Kumar and Ajith have always worked
well in the past Please comment
Maybe they trust me and think that I can deliver the
goods. Like a master tailor I try to cut the film to
suit their image and play to their strengths. Superstars
are commercially more viable than making films with
newcomers. They are easy to handle and know their job
well and the producers are unlikely to lose.
But what happened to Jaggubhai?
Rajnikanth went on changing the story and when we
finally settled on a script he wanted to make more
changes. This went on and on till one day he told me
that he saw Aapthamitra, a Kannada film and was keen to
do a remake of that. I don’t like to fight with
superstars and thus decided to make a graceful exit.
There seems to be a lot of rancour in your words...
I spent six months on Jaggubhai project and all the
effort went to waste. I also lost out on doing
Vasoolraja MBBS remake as it was first offered to me. No
further comments.
How confident are you about the success of Godfather?
Godfather will be a blockbuster as the script is
powerful and Ajith in a triple role will be the highlight.
Asin and a Mumbai model are the heroines. The film has
all essential ingredients like great action, sentiments,
romance, comedy and six songs tuned by Rahman.
Why do you make an appearance in all your films?
(Ha..Ha..) Just for the heck of it. Maybe Alfred
Hitchcock influenced me.