Interview with R. Kannan, the director of Oru Oorla Rendu Raja

Only Kollywood interacted with R. Kannan, a former associate of filmmaker Mani Ratnam and the director of Vemal – Priya Anand starrer Oru Oorla Rendu Raja which is now postponed to November 7th for release. 

Kannan likes to believe that the script of ‘Oru Oorla Rendu Raja’ (OORR), his next release, “is very close to his heart”. The film, which is an out-and-out travel story, is based on an incident Kannan read some years ago. Featuring Vemal, Soori and Priya Anand in the lead roles, the film revolves “around the journey of these three characters and the encounters that change their lives along the way”.

Story of OORR

Vemal plays Azhagu and Soori as Michael are two friends from Tuticorin on their way to Chennai. According to Kannan, OORR is the first travel story in the language. “Tamil cinema hasn’t had a full-length travel story. That’s where I think my film will stand out. The entire first half of my story takes place in a train, while the post-interval part takes places on the road in vehicles such as car and auto rickshaw,” he said.

Contrary to the belief that off-beat films don’t work at the box-office, Kannan said, “Audiences are hungry for novelty in cinema. Anything different, backed by good content is always appreciated. I’m positive that my film will be welcomed for its attempt”. Kannan, who is known for delivering an important message through his films, says “there’s one in this film too”, but he assures that it won’t be preachy.

The biggest challenge

A travel story is not easy to execute as it involves shooting in public and Kannan faced similar hassles. He says it wasn’t easy to manage the crowds that gathered to watch his film’s shooting. “We hired a train for about 15 days to shoot in Mayavaram. The biggest challenge was to
manage the people who came to watch our shoot. If they were in hundreds, it wouldn’t be a challenge, but they were in thousands,” he said.

“At times I was more worried about someone getting hurt in the crowd while trying to watch our shoot. Some of them would watch us shoot atop of a stationed train and some from underneath it. It was a frightening sight,” he added.

Rural milieu in Kannan’s films

Rural characters are mostly recursive in Kannan’s films. If Bhavana played a Madurai-based role in “Jayamkondaan”, Tamannah was seen as Theni-based character in “Kanden Kadhal”. In OORR, Vemal and Soori will be seen playing remote rural characters.

“I have gone step further and explored characters against the backdrop of a remote village. I can’t convince audiences by portraying Vemal and Soori as doctors because they are apt for rural characters. With Priya, it’s easier to convince audiences that she’s a doctor. She’s someone like Shalini from ‘Alaipayuthey’,” he said.

Importance of casting the right characters

Kannan feels it’s very important to cast suitable actors in certain roles. “The looks of certain actors automatically match some roles and hence, casting is very important part of storytelling”.

Out of the four films Kannan has made so far in his career, excluding OORR, two have been remakes and the rest have been his original stories. He said that the off-beat presentation and the fact that it’s his original script will make his latest film “different”.

Highlights of OORR

“The flashback sequence will be one of the highlights of the story. It will be extremely fresh,” he added. OORR is also one of the few films to have been shot completely outdoor, while just a few scenes in a set. “Shooting outdoor was another big hassle as it required us to travel a lot. I learnt so much in the process of making this travel story. I had to walk a tight rope between entertainment and delivering what I set out to convey through this film”.

Shooting mostly outdoor would’ve burnt a hole in the pockets of the producer, and Kannan gladly admits it. But he says this isn’t the most expensive film of his career. He said, “We spent about Rs. 18 crore on ‘Settai’. This film was relatively expensive too but I compensated by wrapping up filming as quickly as possible. Had I shot my film for over 100 days, the cost would’ve doubled”.

Imman’s music will be one of the pillars of the film, said Kannan, and added that Ineya’s song will be the perfect icing on the cake.  Vishakha Singh plays a cameo as well.

Kannan hasn’t started working on his next project yet and he’s still game for remaking interesting films. But his dream is make something as poignant as “Taare Zameen Par”. He said he wouldn’t even mind remaking the film if given an opportunity.