Filmmaker-actor Sasikumar recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of the blockbuster Subramaniapuram (2008), which has since earned a cult classic status among Tamil cinema fans. Acclaimed Bollywood director Anurag Kashyap too has often lauded the epic period action film sharing how it served as a big inspiration to make his own gangster venture Gangs of Wasseypur (2012). With the 15 years of Subramaniapuram celebrations getting a good response from fans on social media, Sasikumar recently took part in a special interview with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, to talk about the making, while also opening up about how he wrote the story of the film.
Speaking about how Subramaniapuram was centered around the relationship between his, Jai, Swathi Reddy and Samuthirakani's characters, Sasikumar said, "The idea for the story came from the concept of friendship. I wrote the climax first. I took the story forward from there. The betrayal in friendship and love is what I started with." Revealing that he completed the script for Subramaniapuram in 10 days, the filmmaker-actor says he fine-tuned the story in subsequent script revisions and made it better. Stating that there will be changes from the first draft of the script to the final draft, Sasikumar explains that there will be many differences as time goes by, while also sharing how suggestions from friends too will help the cause.
Explaining how loyalty is the basis for the story in Subramaniapuram, Sasikumar states, "Betrayal is the foundation. Based on that, we included politics. We will tell towards the end that they all got along with each other on the basis of a relationship. Trust and friendship form the crux. During the climax of the film, there will be a dialogue that goes, 'We lost our lives for this relationship'. Rowdyism is now for money, but back then, it used to be on the basis of friendship and relationship."
Watch Sasikumar and Baradwaj Rangan talk about 15 years of Subramaniapuram in the video below:
