Vishnuvardhan Interview: When you watch Nesippaya, it won’t look like Akash Murali’s debut | EXCLUSIVE

Vishnuvardhan Interview: Returning with a romantic drama Nesippaya, the director opens up about genres like romance and action, films always retaining their charm, working with ensemble cast

Vishnuvardhan

It is all sorts of comeback for director Vishnuvardhan, who is awaiting the release of his romantic drama film Nesippaya. It is filmmaker’s comeback to direction after four years, comeback to Tamil cinema after 10 years, and come back to romance genre after 16 years since Sarvam. While the crowd’s favourite might be the Arya and Trisha starrer film, Vishnuvardhan says his favourite is the 2006 drama Pattiyal. So, would it count saying Nesippaya is Vishnuvardhan’s return to the genre?

“Sarvam was more a romantic thriller, but this one is purely a love drama because it purely about these two people. Most of the times, romances are part of the films. But this one deals with the current scenario of relationships, which are both amazing and amusing. I want to do something that excites too,” says Vishnuvardhan.

Nesippaya director Vishnuvardhan Interview

Nesippaya marks the launchpad for Akash Murali, and stars Aditi Shankar as the female lead. Vishnuvardhan also takes up that responsibility to be the window of visibility for the debutant actor. “Everyone should love him first, only when they love him as a character, he becomes a hero,” he adds.

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But is it also his responsibility to unearth the sort of talent a new face comes up with? “That responsibility is there everywhere. It is like street cricket and playing in stadium. The similarity between Ajith sir in Billa and Nesippaya Akash is that both of them love you a lot and will blindly believe you.”

Vishnuvardhan believes that genres like romance, action and gangster dramas are a phase, that will come and go. “If you see those raw and rustic films coming now, and every now and then, there will come a film that will break the boundaries. The sole purpose the film is designed is because of Akash. But it was gauged with what kind of films are coming and what we can do,” the director says.

“In any era, films have its charm”

In the era of social media where the attention span is reducing, Vishnuvardhan still believes that films have always its charm. “If you are able hook them onto the story with the events that are happening, anybody will sit and watch it. The audience are actually ready and all we should do is tell a story. As a filmmaker, I like things to move fast, undercurrent layers, racy, events happening, multiple characters,” the director mentions.

Vishnuvardhan reveals how he edits scripts even before going to shoot, so as to save a lot of time and money, while also getting clarity. The director says, “Nesippaya has a crazy drama happening. It is a story about a boy meets girl, and they are of two different characters, worlds, and ideology. They separate, and that’s when the story starts, followed by the drama of how they get back together. This is supported by the ensemble star cast.”

Speaking about his characters, Vishnuvardhan describes the lead pair to be opposite of each other. While the hero is impulsive, spontaneous, and daring, Aditi’s role requires her to be protective and stable. “When you see the film, it won’t look like it is Akash’s first film. I eased out when people who saw the film gave me the same feedback. Aditi’s casting is because she looks real, and there is this believability factor in her. Coming to Kalki, I wanted a foreign national but with Tamil origin. This character is tailor-made for her. In fact, Kushboo man had said about her experience of being called for a film and her portions being cut, but I assured her that the number of her shoot days and scenes. She heard the narration, trusted me, and shot exactly what was told to her,” Vishnuvardhan reveals.

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Vishnuvardhan is a director who prefers to narrate a script over letting the artiste read the script on their own. “Even on sets, I change dialogues on sets, even though I don’t touch the mood, scene or the emotion. That is when gets more real and authentic.”

The director who made his Hindi debut with Shershaah, reveals that there is no difference in working on Tamil film sets and that of Hindi. “I make my set mine, and all of them work in the way I want. The protocols were different there, but I did not follow that. Why would I get stuck in a place where it is not my comfort zone?”

But asked about how there is a clear bifurcation between writing and directing in Hindi and Tamil films where the latter tends to have one person doing both, Vishnuvardhan says, “Writers and directors are two separate people. I have a writer called Neelan who worked in Nesippaya with me, and I give credits to writers where its due. You need to have that because there are certain aspects that a writer would bring that a director knows how to show it. The biggest problem here is that if someone has a story, they are made to direct it. I respect writing and directing as different departments.”

As a confident Vishnuvardhan signs off, the director confirms Nesippaya to be bundle of emotions and a love story that is worthy of watching on big screens.

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