‘Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam,’ a bold story by Selvaraghavan

“I never hand my scripts to anyone,” says Tamil filmmaker Selvaraghavan at the promotional launch of his wife Gitanjali’s first film, Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam.

But he made an exception for his wife.

Selvaraghavan was initially apprehensive about her ability to handle the story sensitively but after watching the first rushes of the film, he was happy with Gitanjali’s work.

“I must say that her approach to the story is different from the way a man would handle this story.”

Going down memory lane, Selvaraghavan remembered being introduced to the media along with younger brother Dhanush for his debut film, Thulluvadho Illamai. That was fifteen years ago, when they were little known.

Thulluvadho Illamai, a coming of age story, spoke on the pangs of growing up and was a straight story with no frills. Dhanush played a poor fisherman’s kid. This sleeper hit was remade in Telugu. Since then, the duo surged ahead, establishing themselves in the Tamil industry. One became a filmmaker to reckon with and the other a versatile actor with immense potential. |

Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam (MNM), is a passionate love story with new comers Balakrishna Kola and Wamiqa Gabbi in the lead. Chocolate boy hero Sharran, last seen in Tamil film Charles Shafiq Karthiga, breaks his image with a negative role here.

“MNM is about Manoja, an independent and opinionated woman, and Prabhu, a simple and old fashioned young man, who are brought together in holy matrimony,” says Gitanjali.

“But how holy is this matrimony? [What] do they discover about themselves? How do they lose themselves in the process? How much are you willing to put up with for the love of your life? And do you need to put up with it?” she asks.

Selvaraghavan had written this story several years ago — before he even met Gitanjali.

“While working on the screenplay together we discovered more about Manoja and Prabhu and as the story progressed, we realised that the story cannot be narrated from a male’s perspective only or either from a female perspective only,” explained this mother of two.

“We had to adopt a neutral point of view.”

While Gitanjali wanted the story to be harsher, Selvaraghavan softened it for fear of a backlash it could bring.

Gitanjali, who did film direction from Northern Media School in the UK, said her biggest challenge lay in translating Selva’s vision onto the screen. “It was not easy to take his baby and nurture it.”

After working on this serious story, Gitanjali is keen on making a rom-com next, with a script that is brewing already.

Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam, is produced by Kola Bhaskar and releases on Friday in India. Amrit makes his debut as music composer. Cinematography is by Sridhar, a first timer.