Karthik Subbaraj on collaborating with Lokesh Kanagaraj: ‘We planned to produce one film before Kaithi, but…’

Pointing out that Kanagaraj kicked off his career by penning and directing 2016’s short anthology film Aviyal, which was bankrolled by Subbaraj, the Jagame Thandhiram director told Galatta: “He did a short film first for Aviyal. Then, we were about to produce one film for Lokesh before Kaithi. But it was more of a 40-50 minute film. We have not collaborated with him on writing yet. But Rathna Kumar is working with Lokesh as a writer now (in the upcoming film Leo). Ratna is from our team.”

Jigarthanda as a franchise film

When the interviewer asked Subbaraj if he ever thought of making a “Karthik Subbaraj Cinematic Universe” like his contemporaries, the director said: “My idea was to turn Jigarthanda into a franchise film that focuses on the mixing together of a crime and art world and how they influence each other. 10-20 years down the lane, this franchise might still go on. Any filmmaker can come and do a film with the same crux. My dream is that Jigarthanda becomes a genre of its own.”

Subbaraj also expressed his immense admiration for S J Suryah stating, “First I liked him as a director and then I saw the actor in him and my admiration for him remained resolute. He has such a passion for acting.”

Additionally, he shared the story of his encounter with Raghava Lawrence in 2016 and the narration of Jigarthanda Double X, mentioning, “Though he liked it, we, however, did not proceed with it then as it had only been two years since Jigarthanda came out.”