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'The Mahatma'd have to be an actor to win votes'

Cheran. Click for bigger pic!

Cheran is young, committed and very conscious of his responsibilities as a filmmaker. To him, the prime function of a film is not to entertain people but to make them think. Naturally, he considers films a way to send across social messages. It was indeed a pleasant surprise to hear a young filmmaker talk about commitments and not money and success. He uses the medium to achieve a goal and realise a dream; that is to make the lives of all the villagers in India better.

All his three films, Bharathi Kannamma, Porkkalam and Desiya Geetham portrayed social issues and emotions very sensitively. The first two films of his were huge commercial successes but Desiya Geetham, which exposed the stinking political scene in India, was not well received at the box office. Nevertheless, he won last year's state award for the best filmmaker for Desiya Geetham. At present, he's working on an urban love story. Here he is in conversation with Shobha Warrier:

All your films have dealt with the problems that our society faces. Do you feel a filmmaker should make films only on social problems?

No, not at all. The taste and attitude of each filmmaker is different. Some want to make commercial films and amass wealth. I have nothing against them as they believe in that kind of films. But there are quite a few very senior filmmakers who have made successful socially relevant films, and I have noticed that they are still remembered and their films are still appreciated.

A still from Bharathi Kanamma. Click for bigger pic!

So, are they not more successful in their attempts than many of the so-called commercial filmmakers? I've always been enchanted by those filmmakers and their films and I carried in me a dream that I would make making such films.

Before I talk to you about my dreams, let me tell you that I am from a very poor family and I had to struggle a lot in my childhood. I call those struggles social struggles. I know that even now there are many young men like me in many villages and those young men are struggling to fight social evils, which still exist in our society. That is the reason why I decided to make films that deal with social problems. I want the message that is there in my films to reach every struggling person who lives in the remotest village in India.

The villages in your films have no water, no road, no electricity and there is untouchability too there.

Are you surprised?

No, I am not.

People who live in big cities like Madras do not know anything about such undeveloped villages. You people travel along the main roads, you may sometimes go to some small towns, that's all. But if you make an effort to go to some of the interior villages, you will understand that those villagers who look exactly like you live in atrocious conditions.

A still from Desiya Geetham. Click for bigger pic!

Remember, these villagers are also human beings like us, they also feel hungry like us, they also need water like we do and they also need roads like we do.

Who should be blamed? The politicians?

I don't blame the politicians alone for the sad plight of these poor people. Yes, politicians should definitely be blamed but there are other reasons too for the state of our villages. Not all politicians are bad.

We have many schemes for the villages and we allot a lot of money for the development of the villages and villagers, but the money never reaches the right place and the right people. The money has to pass through many obstacles to finally reach the poor.

Have you seen how our politicians live? They construct huge bungalows and move around in Contessa cars. From where do they get so much money, when they do not do any work? They make use of the money that should actually go to the poor people of our country. There is no difference in the politicians, irrespective of the party they belong to. All of them grab what is kept for the poor. Long back, we had politicians who gave preference to the needs of the people. But today's politicians first think about themselves. That is the difference between the politicians of yesterday and today.

Is that the reason why the idealist politician in your film, Desiya Geetham belonged to the freedom struggle days while the new breed of politicians are portrayed as selfish?

A still from Bharathi Kanamma. Click for bigger pic!

Yes. I feel the deterioration started from the last days of Kamaraj. All those who came after Kamaraj were not interested in the welfare of the people.

When did you become aware of the problems of the society?

I grew up in a small village in the interiors of Tamil Nadu. You have to travel 12 kilometres from Melur taluk to reach my village. Don't think you have reached my village now! You have to walk another two kilometres too. Yes, even now you have to walk.

Are there no buses to your village?

There is one bus now, which comes at 6.30 in the morning. It enters the village blasting its horn so loudly that everyone in the village wakes up. After waking up the village, it speeds past. The villagers see only the dust and not the bus. Tell me is there any use in having such a bus service? It would have been sensible to have a service that coincides with the school and the college timing so that the children need not walk to study. We requested for a bus service and they gave us one, didn't they? They just cheated the villagers.

If you want to reach somewhere urgently, you have no other go but walk. There is a shot of a pregnant woman being carried on a cot to the hospital in my film. You may think I am exaggerating. No, it is no exaggeration. That is how they carry sick people to the nearest hospital. I grew up witnessing the struggles of my villagers, I grew up watching the poor villagers suffer and I too struggled and suffered like them.

A still from Desiya Geetham. Click for bigger pic!

The school in my village has classes only up to eighth standard. For further studies, I had to walk four kilometres to the nearest school. Can you believe, even today the children of my village walk four kilometres to school? As I walked with a bag full of books on my back, I saw life, I saw the villagers suffering. And those sights haunt me even now. That is why I depict stark reality in my films, without any colour or glamour.

Did you ever think of joining politics to tackle these problems?

I was an idealist once. I wanted to be a police inspector, a fearless police inspector who would not bow his head in front of any politician, a fearless police inspector who would follow rules, a fearless police inspector who would guide people. I also wanted to be a district Collector. All these were my dreams.

So why didn't you try to become a police inspector?

I didn't know how to move ahead if I wanted to be a police inspector. By then, the film bug had also bitten me. I was a fan of Sivaji Ganesan. So, I hoped to become an actor. I thought I could make use of being known through acting to help people.

MGR became the darling of the people through acting. People voted for him because of the good roles that he had portrayed on screen. But talent alone is not sufficient to be an actor. You have to be good-looking, you should be tall and you should have good physique. And without good looks, physique and height, how could I dream of becoming an actor? With sunken cheeks, I looked famished and unhealthy. After a lot of deliberation, I realised that acting was not suited for me at all. So, I decided to try my hand in story-writing and film direction as I had ideas and a goal to reach.

A still from Bharathi Kanamma. Click for bigger pic!

It is not the glamour of films that attracted me but the medium as such. If I wanted to do something or say something and if I used such a strong medium, I felt I could reach not one but thousands of villages.

But through films, you can only highlight the problems, you cannot solve them. But as a police officer or as a collector, you can at least bring about some changes, can't you?

It is true that I will only be able to make people aware of the problems through films. But I want to make people aware and bring about a change in their attitude and thinking.

You want a revolution?

Yes, I want a revolution. But I have made only one revolutionary film, Desiya Geetham. If 10 films like this reach people at regular intervals, there will be a revolution. Do you know in many villages, people have become courageous enough to ask questions to the political leaders? If this questioning continues, politicians will find it difficult to cheat people.

After watching Desiya Geetham, people have started thinking. Let them think now. A day will come soon when people would wake up from the subjugated life that they are leading now and start questioning.

Compared to your earlier two films, Desiya Geetham was not a big success. Were you disappointed?

A still from Desiya Geetham. Click for bigger pic!

I will be disappointed only if I make a bad film. Yes, it was not a big box office success but nobody said it was a bad film.

It is a good film. Otherwise, you would not have won the state award. But your message will reach people only if they see the film.

That is true. Many politicians did not let the people see the film. Generally, people like to see only entertaining films. It is very difficult to make them see a film with a message, a film which will make them think.

That is why I asked whether you were disappointed or not. You wanted people to see the film and think, didn't you?

Yes, that way I am disappointed. Sometimes I ask myself, should I have waited for some more time to make the film? May be after making ten films. All the seeds that you sow will not reap but one has to continue sowing.

In one of your interviews, you had commented that women do not go to see such socially-relevant films and that they watch only entertainers. Do you really feel so?

Yes, it is true. They don't come to watch films like Desiya Geetham. Tell me, is it a bad film? Does it have violence or sex? No. I was dealing with the problems that we face. Then, why is it that women don't want to see such films. They want only entertainment from films. They don't understand that only if they see the true colour of the politicians that they will be able to identify the right candidate when the elections come next.

Now they vote for the candidate that their husbands ask them to. They vote for the candidate their fathers ask them to. Or else, they will vote for the candidate a film hero asks them to. I am not talking about urban women, I'm referring to the rural women. When I said women did not see socially relevant films, many wrote angry letters to me and all of them were from college girls.

How did the women of your village react to the film Desiya Geetham? Did they tell you their opinion?

To the women of my village, it is only another film. Do you know what they proudly said, "A young man from our village has made a film and it is a good film. After all, he is from our village."

What is more important to them is the fact that I am from their village. And they watch movies for entertainment only and they will see this film also as another 'comedy' film. When I try to say something serious, they just look at me with their mouths wide open. It's not their fault. I don't blame them. They are poor villagers who have not seen the outside world.

They look at me admiringly because to them, I am a man who sat next to Rajni! They are happy to see me, a fellow villager who had the fortune to talk to Khushboo! They will never think that this young man from their village is courageous enough to make a film about the problems that they face in their day-to-day life.

Do you feel you will be able to bring about a change in their attitude?

One candle can never light the whole of India or the whole of Tamil Nadu. We need many, many candles. The tragedy is, instead of lighting more candles, others are trying to put out the one that I have lit.

A still from Desiya Geetham. Click for bigger pic!

Does that disillusion you? Won't you make more movies like Desiya Geetham?

I will continue to do my bit, till the candle reaches the end. I will continue with my effort.

But your next movie is going to be an urban love story?

If I make only movies like Desiya Geetham, nobody will give me a chance to make movies. They will ask me to go back to my village. Then, how will I be able to tell people what I want to? Only if I get a name in the commercial circuit, only if I am popular, people will come to see my films. No producer will come forward to produce my movies, if I stick to serious films alone. I plan to direct three commercial movies and then make one film that will satisfy me.

Why do you think films and politics are inter- linked here in Tamil Nadu unlike in many other states? Here only those who are successful in films are accepted as political leaders.

It has always been like this in Tamil Nadu. Many political leaders used cinema as a platform to enter politics. For example, if I start a new political party, I will not be able to take it to the people and make them listen to my ideas. On the contrary, if I start my career in films and become popular, I can expect easy acceptability in the field of politics too.

If Mahatma Gandhi were to come to Tamil Nadu and start a party now, nobody would vote for him! If he wanted acceptance here, he'd first have act in films.

Photographs of Cheran by Sanjay Ghosh