Thangalaan director Pa Ranjith: ‘Vikram was wounded many times, but I am selfish’

Talking about Vikram, the director said, “He is someone who does justice to the role. Everyone in the world struggles for a living. No one has it easy. However, the dedication to the craft and the intention to make it the best… Vikram sir does that.”

Later, when Vikram took the stage he revealed that they had tried using live sound for Thangalaan, which was hard to pull off. “No one spoke about that. I am good with dubbing (laughs). So, a lot of times I improvise in the dubbing. I did it for Anniyan. However, here Ranjith said it would be great if we did a live recording. So, on top of acting, we have to be conscious of the mic. Another thing is all the scenes in the film are either one shot or two shots. So, the camera keeps moving around the artistes. One has to give it to Ranjith. We all saw his talent in Sarpatta Parambarai. In Thangalaan, he has done 100 times more work.”

Vikram also shared the experience of shooting the film in Kolar Gold Fields. “It is extremely cold in the nights, and it is scorching hot in the morning. Ranjith would ask for ten scorpions, and he would get them immediately. He would ask for a snake, and it would be there in an instant because below every stone there was a scorpion. Snakes were everywhere… vipers and all that. We treaded that place very carefully,” he said.

Thanagalaan, according to Pa Ranjith, is the meeting point of myth and history. It is about the fight over the gold mines in Kolar Gold Fields. Tamil Prabha has co-written the film with Ranjith, while Azhagiya Periyavar has written the dialogues. GV Prakash has composed the music for the movie, which also stars Parvathy Thiruvothu, Malavika Mohanan, and Pasupathy in important roles.