No south star wants to do a romance today, reveals Gautham Vasudev Menon

He is not just a director who can bring alive romance on screen like no other but he also speaks his mind. While at an interactive session at the Bengaluru International Film Festival on Wednesday, Gautham Vasudev Menon revealed how he wants to make a larger-than-life romance. “No star actor wants to do a romance these days. I approached stars in Tamil, Telugu and even Kannada but the minute I told them it was a romance, they either postponed our meeting or didn’t want to meet! You should ask them why,” smiled the ‘king of romance’.

He counts among his influences Mani Ratnam, Kamal Haasan, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor and stresses that Kamal Haasan has possibly been the biggest of them all. (Also read: Gautham Vasudev Menon says ‘nobody’ in the film industry is supportive in time of need: ‘I sound cynical but it's true’)

The choices he makes

The Vettaiyadu Vilayadu director went on to talk about how most of the stories that he writes on are taken from his own/ family’s life.

“Thankfully I haven’t run out of these stories yet. That’s how I started my film journey and I am continuing that journey. I love to be part of the filmmaking process and bringing the audience to theatres. Every film of mine has been experimental in that sense. Even when Kaakha Kaakha released, the first few days the audience didn’t take to the film because it was something very new in terms of cuts and so on. But then people loved it,” he explained.

To a question whether films sometimes end up being a fan service to the star rather than plot-based, Gautham said, “I don’t think I have done that too much. In fact, I think Ajith sir talks about how Yennai Arindhal changed the trend of his films. When I directed Dominic and The Ladies Purse, I forgot Mammootty the star and thought of him as Dominic.”

Today, the audiences are hooked onto OTT and getting them into theatres has become a big challenge for filmmakers and the industry itself. “I have no clue how to get the audience to theatres - I am still figuring it out. People came to watch Vendhu Thaninthadhu Kaadu but they didn’t come to watch Joshua,” he said. “In Tamil and Telugu, stars are still bringing audience to theatres. Vettaiyan opened to big numbers though it was different from the usual Rajinikanth film.”

Movie business under threat?

The Dominic director also spoke about OTTs and their impact on theatres. He quoted Sean Baker’s speech from the recent Oscars and said, “We are killing the business of theatres ourselves. We want the digital sales and take that money to shoot the film. Then we release the film according to their slate. Initially, I thought OTTs would provide access to everyone to cinema. If the movie releases three or five months later online, then the theatres also do business. This is not the case. I am hoping that this digital dependence fades and we bring back people to theatres. We have to strive to write great stories. I think we need to go back to the time when we started making films.”

When asked, Gautham Menon also shared a word about reviews getting personal. “I have a problem with reviews getting personal - this is not professional or correct. You find reviews on social media and YouTube where the person is disdainful and insults the director. Then the writer in them comes out. Come and make your own film!”

The director who is celebrated for his romances was asked about the problematic issue of stalking in cinema. Gautham replied, “I don’t want to be moralistic. I wrote the part (Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya) and the woman didn’t have a problem at all. If you see my films, there’s always a line that’s drawn. Different times have different standards of acceptance. Even in Mani Ratnam’s Mouna Ragam (1986), Karthik goes behind Revathy. I am not going to let some journalist define my films.”

Recently, Gautham had made a statement that there was no need to make caste-based films. He explained, “The context in which I said it is always missed. When you keep pointing out the rift in cinema then it continues to exist. In my head, this rift doesn’t exist. The films made are all cinematic representations from the 80s and 90s. Tell me a story from today which shows caste-based conflict. I don’t want to comment on others’ films - who am I to content onothers films? I don’t want to take a side. This is my take.”

In recent times, there have been conversations around star salaries, entertainment taxes and ticket prices. Gautham Menon pointed out that we want nice theatres and a cinematic experience so the charges are justified. As for star salaries, he just smiled and said, “If for instance Mr Amitabh Bachchan comes with 10 people to the set, I’d love to welcome him with the 10 people. There’s no problem at all.”