With only two weeks to go for release, Gautham Vasudev Menon has revealed in an interview to a Tamil magazine that he had titled the film earlier as Ariya Tharugirom Sathyaanand before they eventually zeroed in on Yennai Arindhaal. “The film is not confined only to my artistic sensibility. It’s got a much bigger hero in Ajith Kumar. I wanted to reach out to his massive fan base, hence we chose the title on a mutual consent,” says Gautham.
“I was in the most tumultous phase of my life last year. Then, suddenly I got reminded of Simbu and called him to narrate a story. He said, ‘Story? We can go to shoot directly!’. Simbu was my most consoling companion during that time. When I was struggling to let that phase go, he helped me revive.”
Gautham also disclosed that after Dhruva Natchatiram with Suriya was dropped unfortunately, he had writer’s block while scripting Yennai Arindhaal. “I have always penned the screenplay and dialogues of all my films. But, I didn’t want to take any chance with this film when I was down mentally. So, I approached my friend Shridhar Raghavan, who doctored the loopholes in the screenplay. Then, I discussed with Thiagarajan Kumararaja. He said, ‘It’s clear. You can go and start the film confidently. If you make minute changes, it’ll be more beautiful aesthetically’ and suggested few ideas. Both of them didn’t want their names to be included in the credits. But, I wanted to give due credit and it’s a healthy precedence that should be followed,” adds Gautham.
When quizzed about the rampant ‘Yennai Arindhaal Story’ rumors on social media platforms, Gautham says, “There’s so much of truth in the stories going rounds online. But, I feel that Ajith fans will feel contented and gratified when they come out after watching first day first show despite story leaks. I have no anger on people who crib about the story on social media. But, a reputed daily is publishing an article saying ‘This is the story of Yennai Arindhaal’, which is saddening considering the fact that a producer has invested crores of money for the project and there’s so much of stakes involved.”