30 years of Thevar Magan: PC Sreeram remembers the Kamal Haasan film, and calls it a classic

A film featuring Kamal Haasan was released 30 years ago on Deepavali. Thevar Magan, directed by Bharathan, became a blockbuster. On Twitter, PC Sreeram described his experience working on the film as “everyday learning”. In addition, the ace lensman stated being a part of this project had been a blessing.

On social media, fans also shared their favourite moments from Thevar Magan and recalled their best memories associated with the film.

Produced and written by Kamal Haasan, Thevar Magan won five National awards, including one for Best Feature Film in Tamil, and was selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars.

Kamal Haasan announced a sequel to Thevar Magan in 2018. Due to its compelling plot, and stellar performances by veteran actors Sivaji Ganesan, Haasan, Nassar, Gautami and Revathi, the movie has a cult following. Despite critical acclaim, the film, which has music by Ilaiyaraaja, has been criticised for glorifying violence and the Thevar community.

This was the first time that screenplay writing software was used in Tamil cinema called Movie Magic.

According to Ilaiyaraaja's filmmaker-music director brother, Gangai Amaran, he was set to helm the Haasan-starring film, Adhi Veerapandian. However, Ilaiyaraaja allegedly advised Haasan not to proceed with it, because the former believed Amaran was “not a talented filmmaker”, which resulted in the movie being shelved.

Amaran stated, “Kamal rewrote Adhi Veerapandian's narrative as Thevar Magan.”

Interestingly, Dilip Kumar was set to play Sivaji Ganesan in Haasan's original Hindi version of Thevar Magan, but the legendary Bollywood actor declined the offer because he found the movie “too violent”.

The Hindi remake of Thevar Magan, Virasat (1997), was directed by Priyadarshan, and the Kannada version was titled Thandege Thakka Maga (2006).

PC Sreeram recalled in an interview that he has a habit of visualising the movie in his head after hearing a story.

After listening to Bharathan's story for Thevar Magan, Sreeram was inspired to give the entire movie a rustic colour scheme. “To get a shot of one car driving on the road at the beginning of the movie, I went to extraordinary lengths and laid a complete road out with coconut husks. I intended to give the audience a preview of what was to come by integrating the scene with the narrative,” he was quoted as saying.

Many predicted that Sreeram would win the National Award for Thevar Magan. “I believe Ashok Mehta won that year's award for Bandit Queen. It was fantastic,” he added.