Thiruttu Payale 2 director Susi Ganeshan: Amala Paul was hesitant to do film because of Malayalam accent
Following an eight-year-long hiatus, director Susi Ganesan, who started his career with Mani Ratnam’s production Five Star in 2002, is back in Tamil cinema with his next directorial Thiruttu Payale 2, which hits screens on Friday. After his last Tamil film Kanthasamy earned a tepid response at the box office, Susi Ganesan forayed into Bollywood with Shortcut Romeo in 2013, the Hindi remake of his hit Tamil film Thiruttu Payale, and took a long break.
Thiruttu Payale 2 poster. Image from Twitter/@my_Kollywood
“Last year, I was casually discussing the decade-long journey of AGS Entertainment in the industry with Kalpathi Aghoram sir. I was quite surprised to know that they have produced 18 movies so far. Thiruttu Payale got released in 2006 and was their first feature film production. I randomly suggested a line to him last year, which he immediately liked. Then, he asked me to develop the full script. That's how Thiruttu Payale 2 was born,” Susi Ganesan tells Firstpost in this exclusive chat.
After writing the script, Susi Ganesan had a lot of options in mind for the lead cast, except Prasanna, who debuted as an actor in his maiden film Five Star. “I had stumbled upon a picture of Prasanna with a rugged look and called him immediately to come on board. I wanted a person with good physique and a subtle, sophisticated look for Prasanna's role. And, he perfectly fit the bill. For Bobby Simha and Amala Paul’s roles, I had discussed with a lot of people before I finalised them,” said Susi.
Susi Ganesan says Vijay Sethupathi played a crucial role in signing the National Award-winning actor Bobby Simha for the lead role in Thiruttu Payale 2. “Vijay Sethupathy is like my brother. When our executive producer Venkat visited the sets of Vijay Sethupathy's Kavan before Thiruttu Payale 2 went on floors, he used to ask about our film's lead cast and regularly followed up on the lead hero. Though Vijay Sethupathi was not associated with the film, he showed great interest. It was for that unadulterated care I wanted him to release the film's poster.”
Susi was quite convinced that Bobby Simha’s role was tailor-made for him after he watched the first copy. “I won't lie that I wrote this script keeping Bobby in mind. When we assign a budget for a film, it is essential first to fix the budget for the lead cast. So we were discussing the choices we had and even approached a few before zeroing in on Bobby. After I got to know him well, I was quite bowled over by his guileless character,” he says.
Susi says Thiruttu Payale 2 is based on a few incidents reported in newspapers and a few stories he read on social media. “Every creation is an inspiration from something else. In fact, my first part was inspired by a lot of newspaper clippings. And the title card was also designed with the clippings. This film is also like that. The story talks about the misuse of social media though I’m not quite active on the platform. After the advent of social media, everyone is exposed to a lot of things. The biggest highlight of the script is relatability. Everyone one will be able to connect to the characters on screen. It could be your friends, neighbours, mutual friends or even you.”
Asked about the interesting character name of Amala Paul (who plays Agalvilakku), Susi says, “I felt the need for a unique name that sums up Amala Paul's personality traits in the film. And after some research, we finalised Agal Vilakku. Her character is such – so pure and adorable. We have shot the film in sync sound. Initially, Amala Paul was a little hesitant because of her Malayalam accent. But I encouraged her. She has done a fantastic job. Whatever so-called image she carries now, this film will break it. Almost all the artists are Tamil speakers, and it was quite an experience to record the dialogues live.”
Clearing the air that Thiruttu Payale 2 is not a proper sequel to the first part, Susi Ganesan says, “It is a different story. A contemporary thriller with all the commercial elements intact. There is an obvious need to include some comical and romantic portions in the film to make it more theatre-friendly. It's a film where I was more than satisfied with the script to celluloid transformation."
