Vinothraj PS, who looks up to veteran directors Balu Mahendra, Satyajit Ray and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, said the location and timing of the shoot for Koozhangal was as crucial as the story of the film.
“The film has three characters – one is father, the child and the landscape. All these terrains were well off with agriculture. There was no problem with water. Later it succumbed to drought and led to huge social imbalance in the life of these people. This is what we wanted to address,” he said.
But shooting in real locations came with its own set of challenges.
The director recalled how the cameras would often get jammed due to extreme heat and how the entire crew had to walk barefoot to get the pulse of the story right.
The movie was partially complete before the Covid-19 pandemic struck but the team needed someone to take over the entire production.
In their search for a collaborator, they knocked on the doors of the NFDC Film Bazaar, a platform created and organised to encourage collaboration between South Asian and international film communities.
“The NFDC had invited director Ram, who won a National Award in 2013 for his movie Thanga Meengal, as a guest for one of the lectures. We met him and told him about the film, which he loved. Then Vignesh Sivan and Nayanthara saw the film and they took over the production as they believed in it,” Vinothraj said.
After having a festival run of about a year, the director said they were toying with the idea of releasing Koozhangal around December. However, the film might get an early release.
SAMANTHA CONGRATULATES NAYANTHARA AND VIGNESH SHIVAN
The film has two more steps to make it to the final nomination. After 2016, a Tamil film has been selected to represent India at the Academy Awards.
Sharing the poster of Koozhangal, Samantha wrote, “Big congratulations @wikkiofficial and Nayan. This is such mad news. Congratulations to the entire team. More power to you (sic).”
ABOUT KOOZHANGAL
Koozhangal, known as Pebbles internationally, is a realistic family drama produced by Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan. The film explores the story of an alcoholic dad and his son, who follows their wife-mum as she flees home due to abuse. How the father-son duo wins her back forms the story.