4 min readNew DelhiSep 2, 2025 02:00 PM IST
Filmmaker Vetrimaaran opened up about the haphazard manner in which he makes films. In a recent interview, he said that he doesn’t dive into a project with a proper script, and conducts shoots without having planned his days to the tee. Instead, he said, he asks his assistants to get everything imaginable ready, and he then devises scenes based on who is available and the locations he has blocked. This leads to his budgets ballooning to extremely high levels, but the director said that as long as he is able to guarantee a profit, his producers don’t seem to mind. As an example, he said that Viduthalai was supposed to be one film shot over 40 days, but it ended up becoming two films shot over more than 250 days.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Vetrimaaran was asked how he handles stars, and he said, “All the actors I’ve worked with are very good, and they pick up what I want very fast. I let them know what I want during the narration itself. I’ve worked with Dhanush the longest, and he knows exactly what I want. He picks it up very fast. And all actors, even Rajinikanth, want (appreciation) from the director. It doesn’t matter how young the director is; that’s how they are conditioned. They want their director to feel good about what they have delivered.”
Also read – ‘OTT platforms barged in and gave Rs 120 crore for Rajinikanth and Vijay’s films’: Vetrimaaran calls for reduction of star salaries
Vetrimaaran continued, “I tell them how I have envisioned the scene, and give them the space to be themselves.” He said that if he is ever dissatisfied with an actor’s performance, he tells them to make certain changes, but he communicates this privately. Asked if he gives his actors a script, he said with a laugh, “How can I give them a script if I don’t write?” He said that he enters production only with a basic outline of the plot, and doesn’t write his scripts down to this day. “They’ll know what scenes they’re supposed to shoot, but what that scene will change into they don’t know,” he said, adding, “The lines they will get on set, but I think most directors work like this.”
In the same interview, Vetrimaaran was asked by a member of the audience how he gets his crew on the same page as himself if he doesn’t have a script to show them. He explained, “I’m going to give away the trick. You have a great team, and it’ll be taken care of. I call them and tell them that I want to film a certain sequence in the next 10 days. My team will ensure that all the actors who are supposed to be in any scene in that sequence are there. All the costumes, the props, and whatever is required for those 10 days, that’s also ready. They will also make sure that if some of these actors are not able to perform, there are standby actors who can come in and fill in for these people.”
Vetrimaaran shared what his team says about him: “Now that we’ve worked with you, we can work anywhere in the world.” Vetrimaaran is currently working on a film starring Simbu. He is also one of the producers of the film Bad Girl. Rajinikanth’s last film was Coolie, which underperformed at the box office.
Rajinikanth most recently starred in Lokesh Kanagaraj's Coolie.