Radhakrishnan Parthiban is a National award-winning filmmaker and actor, whose recent movie Oththa Seruppu Size 7 was released to critical and commercial acclaim. A former assistant of K Bhagyaraj, Parthiban won the National award for his debut directorial, Pudhea Paadhai (1989), and went on to repeat the feat with Housefull (1999). Here, he lists four movies by other filmmakers that affected and moved him deeply.
Aval Oru Thodarkathai (1974)
I consider myself K Balachander sir’s biggest fan.
Sujatha (L), Vijayakumar (C) interacting with K Balachander (R) while filming ‘Aval Oru Thodarkathai’
Whenever his films released in Midland theatre (erstwhile name of Jayaprada Cinema) and Chitra Talkies, I’d make a beeline to watch it. The after-effects of watching a KB sir film would last a long time. Aval Oru Thodarkathai is one such. The film had 52 characters and each one of them would have an ending. I was amazed that he could balance a movie with so many diverse characters. And the dialogues are out of this world. If someone watches my own films and tell me ‘Sir, dialogues are superb!’, I’m immediately reminded of KB sir’s films.
16 Vayathinile (1977)
Imagine, you’re someone who has no knowledge about what happens in our villages.
Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in ‘16 Vayathinile’
For that someone, a film like 16 Vayathinile, when it released, was a revelation. It was a film that affected not just me and our people, but the whole world. Take a look at the characters who inhabit the film’s universe. They are all simple and natural, rooted-to-reality type personalities. For someone (P Bharathiraja) to introduce to us all city-dwellers, the life that happens beyond their world, somewhere faraway in a village to perfection... that is something great!
Oru Kai Osai (1980)
The film may not have met the commercial success it deserved but it is one of the beautiful films by Bhagyaraj sir.
K Bhagyaraj and Ashwini in ‘Oru Kai Osai’
He is famous for the dialogues he writes but in Oru Kai Osai he would have acted without speaking. For someone to cut their biggest advantage and still make the film click, that is huge. His (Bhagayaraj) character has this overwhelming desire to speak when he does not have that ability. But when he gains it, he prefers to not speak and remain mute. This is how the film ends. It is beautiful; it is almost like poetry.
Pizza (2012)
What I liked in Pizza was the twist Karthik Subbaraj gives us in the climax.
Ramya Nambeesan and Vijay Sethupathi in Pizza
It shows us his intelligence as a filmmaker. What he does is cheat us in the end! In every viewer, there is a writer. As he or she sits and consumes a movie, they start to interpret the film in their own way, different to the manner I, or another filmmaker, wanted them to understand it. That is what happened in Pizza. Whatever the viewer thought the story was about, or the story will be, Karthik Subbaraj makes a fool out of us and reveals something entirely different. That was brilliant!
(As told to Pradeep Kumar)
Published - October 19, 2019 04:49 pm IST
