Director Sukumar finds his spine in storytelling
There’s no hard-and-fast rule for filmmaker Sukumar. If a particular scene has to be shot, he would have multiple approaches to it. But Sukumar says he would choose the way that the audience gets entertained the most. As his latest action entertainer Pushpa: The Rise hit the screens, Sukumar shares his experiences behind drafting the story on the redsandalwood smuggler Pushpa, which he first thought of as a web series rather than a film. After an arduous research of six months, and reading the materials related to smuggler late Veerappan and interacting with his fellow coolies, who abandoned the profession later, Sukumar returned back with a rough draft in his mind — something like a spine of sorts and he would add clay to make it a complete structure. “I first thought of making it a web series while working on another story parallelly.
The smuggling was rampant since the early 1970s. It came to limelight only during the ’90s because of television and national- wide news coverage. Soon after the death of Veerappan, many of his fellowmen were left jobless. They’re masters in cutting sandalwood woods. They’re hardened by the challenges that are thrown at them.
Some of their stories are so intriguing.” Describing the sequence of how Puhspa makes sandalwood- laden lorry hide in a pond, he adds, “One of the former woodcutters narrated how they hid the lorry in a well to escape from the police. The sander load is more worthy than the lorry. Back then, ‘A grade’ sandalwood was worth Rs 3 crore a ton.
A lorry could bear the load of eight tons. One would worry to dump the lorry into the water unaware of the worth of a full load of sandalwood logs.” Responding to the twist in the climax, bringing in actor Fahadh Faasil, Sukumar says, “Everyone might have expected Allu Arjun would thrash the cop Shekawat (Faasil) for his treatment to him. But I wanted a climax without violence. It should be a slap on the Shekawat’s face without a fight. And part 2 will show how Pushpa expands his smuggling syndicate to other regions.
It would have an emotional conclusion. It shows his troubled childhood and his moments with father and brothers.” So, how did Psuhpa’s mannerism Thaggede le come into being? “Allu Arjun would often tell me that audiences forget him soon after watching his films in theatres. He has the feeling that none of his characters made a lasting impact. So, we needed something that leaves a trail behind in Pushpa’s story — even after fans leave the cinema hall. So that’s when I thought Pushpa should have a punch dialogue like Thaggede Le, which might have caught the fancy of Bunny fans,” says Sukumar.
Filmmaking is “just mathematics” for this former lecturer-turned-filmmaker. He admits box office numbers and the gossip in the websites bother him sometimes. “If somebody’s money is being invested, filmmaking is just business. Telling entertaining stories in the end is what matters. Filmmaking is again mathematics and I would say every box office number has a heart. I also feel the compulsion of doing more films can’t hamper my creativity. No doubt Pushpa is an enhancement to my creative liberty,” he shares.
Also read: Makers forced to delete ‘bold’ romantic scene in ‘Pushpa’
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