Iravin Nizhal director Parthiban asserts a claim about his work being the world's first single-shot non-linear film

R Parthiban took to Twitter to retweet a post that included a quote from renowned film critic Saibal Chatterjee, which endorsed the director's claim that Iravin Nizhal is the world's first single-shot non-linear film. According to Saibal Chatterjee, "Fish and Cat is a single shot film, but it does not have a non-linear narrative like Iravin Nizhal."

Written and directed by Parthiban, the film was released on July 15. The director who also played the lead role marketed Iravin Nizhal as the world's first single-shot non-linear film. The meticulous manner in which the film was shot was shown before the actual footage began.

However, shortly after the film's release, some critics pointed out that the Iranian film Cat & Fish, directed by Shahram Mokri and released in 2013, had already used the single-shot non-linear narrative. Following the backlash, Parthiban stated a well-known film critic supporting his claim. Notably, Saibal Chatterjee is a founding member of India's Film Critics Circle.

In an interview with a leading entertainment portal, Parthiban said, an artist will never be satisfied with his film, and looking back, some aspects of Iravin Nizhal continue to bother him. The director expressed his interest to remake the same film in Hindi with Ajay Devgn, in the lead, for which the talks have been going on.

The award-winning filmmaker discusses how difficult it was to make Iravin Nizhal, especially given the financial constraints. "There's no money, so even if I had to go for one more take, I'll have to borrow money from someone. After 32 years of being in the industry, I purchased land for my daughter and began saving for a house. But I had to take that money at one point to film the next shot. I spent all of my money to complete Iravin Nizhal," he added.

Recalling the experience, Parthiban said, during the shoot, he was mostly behind the camera; running and changing his get-ups for the next shot. "Because of my years of theatre experience, I didn't need to rehearse or memorise my lines. Looking at other artists was more important than rehearsing my character!" He went on to say that because he's a dubbing artist, he was aware that if something was missed, he could always make it up during the dubbing, which put him at ease.

Apart from Parthiban, Iravin Nizhal features Robo Shankar, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Anandha Krishnan, Sai Priyanka Ruth and Brigida Saga in supporting roles. The film's production design was handled by Vijay Murugan.

Iravin Nizhal was produced by Parthiban under the banner of Bioscope Film Framers. Kalaipuli S Thanu's V Creations presented the film.