Who inspired Vasantha Balan to make Kaaviya Thalaivan?

Vasantha Balan’s Kaaviya Thalaivan boasts of an ensemble cast in Siddharth, Prithivraj ,Vedhika, Nassar and Thambi Ramaiah. It is produced by Y NOT studios and Radian Group and has music by AR Rahman. Kaaviya Thalaivan is a historical film which portrays the lives of drama artists and their musical plays in 1920s set in the backdrop of Madurai. Vasantha Balan has opened up about the film in an interview to a magazine.

“The idea for Kaaviya Thalaivan surfaced from an insightful conversation with Jayamohan sir one night about the life of Avvai Shanmugham. The film is not about the lives of K.B. Sundarambal and S.G. Kittappa, but certainly inspired from their lives. I have written my own story based on my reading on the legendary stage actors,” reveals Vasantha Balan. He also admitted that he was surprised to see few childhood pictures of Kittappa having resemblance to Siddharth’s face.

It was Siddarth who held talks with AR Rahman and got him on board. ARR had said about his composing experience for the film, “I loved composing for Kaaviya Thalaivan. I researched the music of the era and the culture of the time for more than six months.”