Art & Entertainment

Arun Matheswaran on 'Saani Kaayidham': Idea Is Not To Showcase Violence

Arun Matheswaran says that his films 'Rocky' and 'Saani Kaayidham' have elements of harsh realism, which differentiates them from other Tamil revenge films.

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A still from the film 'Saani Kaayidham'
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After the success of his first film, 'Rocky,' director Arun Matheeswaran is back with 'Saani Kaayidham,' which is all set to release soon on 6 May on Amazon Prime Video. 

Actors Keerthy Suresh and Selvaraghavan will be seen in lead roles in the upcoming action thriller. The plot of the film revolves around a generational curse coming true when Ponni (played by Keerthy Suresh) and her family are wronged.

Matheswaran tells us that his films 'Rocky' and 'Saani Kaayidham' have elements of harsh realism, which differentiates them from other Tamil revenge films.

Matheswaran said, “Revenge genre is not new in the Tamil Film Industry and has already been explored a million times. However, the aspect of harsh realism shown in Saani Kaayidham and my previous film, Rocky, is kind of new for the Tamil audience. The violence in other similar genre films in usually very stylized.”  

He adds, “With Saani Kaayidham I wanted to bring in a raw differentiating flavour and the writing came naturally to me; be it the character in the intense situations or the way they react to it. However, the idea is not to showcase violence but stay true to the action drama.”

Matheswaran goes on to say that he draws influence from directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Seijun Suzuki, and Akira Kurosawa. Their films' dramatic imagery prompted him to include similar aspects in 'Saani Kaayidham,' in which the victim fights back.

“There are a couple of filmmakers that I look up to, right from my first film. For example, Jim Jarmusch is one such filmmaker whose works I love. Seijun Suzuki and Akira Kurosawa are two Japanese filmmakers who are my inspirations to name a few.  In a broader sense, I wanted to bring in the nuances of these films and director, and thus retorted to creating Saani Kaayidham,” he said.

'Saani Kaayidham,' produced by Screen Scene Media Entertainment, will be released internationally exclusively in over 240 countries and territories. The film will also be released in Telugu as 'Chinni' and Malayalam as 'Saani Kaayidham.'