The market for Tamil web series has taken an explosive start and the feedback to Vilangu (2022) directed by Prasanth Pandiyaraj, Ayali (2023) created by Muthukumar, and S. R. Prabhakaran's Sengalam (2023) are testimony. With Vilangu turning out to be a phenomenal success for leading streaming platform ZEE5, filmmaker Prasanth Pandiyaraj recently sat down with Muthukumar and S. R. Prabhakaran to discuss with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, about how he expanded the story for the series from a script written for a film.
Explaining the idea behind the expansion of a story initially written for a film and then developing it into a web series, Prasanth Pandiyaraj, creator of Vilangu said, "Since there wasn't a concept of web series in South India, I narrated a line and the story for only about 10 minutes. It wasn't like a screenplay, but Madan sir (Escape Artists Motion Pictures) believed in me and told me to elaborate it. I had earlier made a film called Bruce Lee and I didn't do any films after that. What I thought during that period was to narrate this story as it is. When I submitted the 250-page story, he asked me why is it so big? I told him that this story will be good only if its made with all the details. I initially thought this can be made as a three-hour film. I believed there wouldn't be any issues with the budget since a majority of the sequences will be inside a police station. Furthermore, the cast included small artistes and that would be compatible with the budget. The production might extend to an additional 10-20 days and I was ready to shoot day and night. But, the runtime then got extended to 120 minutes and it then increased since they were still in the mindset of making a film. Towards the end, they gave the go ahead for it to be made as a web series. Since it's a thriller and it will include twists and turns, it gave them the confidence to pursue it as a web series."
Watch Prasanth Pandiyaraj in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan below:
