When Suseenthiran announced his period film, Maaveeran Kittu, it created a huge buzz, since the name resembled one of the leaders who fought for the Tamil Eelam.
On the contrary, Suseenthiran who has a penchant for authentic portrayals, has touched upon the subject of a real-life warrior with the same name, who fought for the people of Tamil Nadu during the 1980s.
“This happened at my native place in the mid-80’s when I was very young. All the characters are real, and I have weaved the story with a bit of fictional elements. Vishnu plays Kittu in the titular role of a student who has secured state first in Class 12, and is an aspiring collector. Sri Divya essays Gomathi, his classmate. Parthiban’s role is very crucial. The problems Kittu faces to reach his goal forms the crux,” he explains.
Susee adds, “The climax of MK will be gut-wrenching, albeit being positive. Among the films I have directed, only Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu was a commercial hit — others were average grossers. I don’t want producers to have the opinion that Susee can only do art films. Hence, I worked on Maaveeran’s screenplay and story in such a way that commercial elements are intact. It will be on an international scale and I vouch that audiences will celebrate Maaveeran Kittu after coming out of the theatres,” he says.
On working with Vishnu, he says, “He totally transformed himself in terms of looks and body language. After eight years, Vishnu and I went to the same location, where we shot Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu. Those were nostalgic moments.”
Throwing light on lead actors having declined the script, he says, “I was ready with this script three years back itself! Many felt Parthiepan’s character looked more heroic, and were ready to come on board provided I cut down Parthiban’s role. But I did not want to compromise. Hence it took ages for the flick to take off.”
Talking about his film with Udhayanidhi, which was announced with fanfare, and then got dropped, Susee says, “After two days of the shoot, I made some changes in the second half of the film, which Udhay sir didn’t like. He said that the second half was not as good as the first. I told him that if he trusted me, we could work together — otherwise it was best to drop it.”
As the conversation veers towards Vijay, he smiles, “I met him once when he congratulated me for the success of Naan Mahan Alla — when I narrated a line, he found it realistic and wanted me to make it more commercial. After Pandiya Naadu released, he said he wanted to work with me. I have written a script for him. He is yet to listen to it.” he concludes.
