Exclusive! Karthik Subbaraj: The result of Jagame Thandhiram had little impact on Mahaan's scripting

The much-awaited film, Mahaan, starring Vikram and Dhruv in lead roles, started streaming on Amazon Prime Video from yesterday. Karthik Subbaraj, the director of the movie, is elated with the early reviews the project has received from critics and the audience. 

In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, the young filmmaker opens up about working with a bunch of talented actors including Vikram, the research that went behind the action flick, casting Simha regularly in his projects, skipping theatrical release, mixed reviews for his previous outing Jagame Thandhiram and more. Excerpts...

Mahaan is your third continuous gangster film after Petta and Jagame Thandhiram. How strenuous or exciting was it to direct three movies back-to-back which belonged to a similar genre?

First of all, I don't consider Mahaan as a typical gangster movie because its story isn't about a gangster. It's plot revolves around the liquor mafia; it's about the journey of two characters who go on to become highly successful entrepreneurs. It doesn't fit into the usual gangster movies. 

It has lots of action sequences, hero-villain conflicts and emotional stakes...the story spans several decades. How challenging was it to come up with a script which comprises all these elements?

It started off as a father-son conflict and the outcome of their ideological differences. I felt the backdrop of the liquor industry would be interesting to the story. I did a lot of research on the industry, its growth in Tamil Nadu from the 60s and the impact of liquor prohibition movements in the state during the period. I had a great time doing the research - it was really exciting - it was a new experience for me as I never wrote a story with this backdrop. The challenging part was to include the emotional moments of a few characters convincingly with liquor industry as its backdrop.

Are the characters Gandhi Mahaan and Sathyavan based on real life people or is the film's story a completely fictional one?

I have had a few friends who had strict fathers. Those fathers wanted their children to live life according to their terms. I have come across children who had to live life from a younger age with forced ideologies injected in them by their parents. Many lose their childhood and young age when they lead such pressure-filled lives. I took this concept alone to develop the character of Gandhi Mahaan. Otherwise, it is a completely fictional movie. 

Your previous outing, Jagame Thandhiram, had opened to mixed reviews. Did that make you overly cautious while working for Mahaan?

Mahaan's script was completed before Jagame Thandhiram got released. In fact, we had wrapped up shooting for the film's first schedule. So, the result of Jagame Thandhiram had little impact on Mahaan's scripting and shooting process. Moreover, I wasn't surprised about some of the negative reviews which Jagame Thandhiram received. It touched upon a political issue and I knew not everyone might like it. For some reason, I was aware that it would backfire. Nevertheless, it was a learning experience. It was good to see people reacting in different ways to the film.

Having said that, I remember some reviews mentioning the need to have more space for a few characters in the movie. I took this input seriously during the editing of Mahaan. I felt that I don't need to speed up a few proceedings. I understood that people don't mind watching a three-hour film if they are emotionally connected with the characters.  

Two back-to-back OTT releases which featured big stars who are also great actors. Wasn't this disappointing?

Both the situations were unexpected for me, but then we had no option. In the last two years, business models changed, terms and conditions between producers and exhibitors changed. So we had to go the OTT way. But the OTT boom has helped a lot of films during the lockdown. If not for OTT platforms, the situation of the film industry would have been even worse in the last two years.  

Your last three films, unlike the ones during your initial phase, featured big stars like Rajinikanth, Dhanush and Vikram in lead roles. As a self-proclaimed fan of Rajinikanth, Petta was made to entertain the fans and please the fanboy in you. But how was the approach towards writing while working for Jagame Thandhiram and Mahaan which had Dhanush and Vikram headlining the projects respectively?  

The only film which I wrote for an artist was Petta because of my love for Thalaivar. While working for Jagame Thandhiram and Mahaan, I knew I was working with phenomenal actors. My idea was to generate extraordinary performances from them. I was keen on creating well-written characters for them so as to make their fans as well as other movie buffs happy.  

Simha is an actor who has played one of the pivotal characters in most of your movies. Do you keep him in mind while writing scripts?

No, it's just that he has a knack of giving life to different kinds of characters. He is a supremely talented artist who is passionately exploring his acting talent. I didn't have him in mind for the character of Sathyavan in Mahaan. I had reached out to a few other actors for the role. He came on board at the last minute. I'm happy to see him receiving accolades for his performance in the film. 

Was Dhruv the first preference to play Dada in the movie?

Not really. I had no artist in my mind. I had narrated a story to Vikram sir a few years ago, but that didn't materialize. Producer Lalit sir asked me a while ago if I have another story with me. That's when I narrated Mahaan to him. Vikram sir liked it and I said it would be great if real father and son play the roles of a father-son duo who share contrasting ideologies.  

The film has many action sequences and the one that was captured in a single shot has been getting rave reviews. How difficult was it to shoot it?

Our stunt choreographer Dinesh Subbarayan is someone who works according to the needs of the script. There are two crucial stunt scenes in the film. The first one was really challenging because it is a single shot fight. Missing one punch would spoil the whole sequence, so it took us a lot of rehearsals to get it right. For the second fight, emotions play a key role, and hence, Vikram sir and Dhruv put their best foot forward. I'm glad people are loving them.  

Karthik Subbaraj-Santhosh Narayanan is a successful combination in Kollywood. How's your equation with him and how instrumental was his music for Mahaan?

Everyone knows how talented he is and how popular his songs are. Anirudh was initially supposed to be the composer for Mahaan, but Santhosh had to take it up when the former had his hands full. I believe it is his background score that elevated the emotions in Mahaan in many scenes.