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Seeing that, my friends joked about how my film was making everyone faint. On the day of the release, I was standing outside a theatre in Madurai when someone ran towards the canteen to get a soda because a woman had fainted after watching the climax. Even Kalaignar Karunanidhi saw the film and scolded me, asking how he could sleep after seeing the film (smiles). After watching the film, they were so shocked that they advised me to change the climax and even said they were ready to fund it. Even before release, the film faced a couple of issues and I had to screen it for eight members from the Producers’ council. I’d never seen Yuvan in such an emotional state before and that told me that the climax worked. After searching for him for a while, I saw him standing between a van and a wall, and he was crying. But after the film ended, I couldn’t spot him. He meddled with his phone in the first half at times and just said ‘okay ji’ during the intermission.
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I wanted the film to be better than Sethu and I’m glad it was.Īfter the film was shot, I played it to Yuvan Shankar Raja for the music. That’s when I narrated Paruthiveeran’s one-liner to him along with the climax. We were startled by how a film can affect the audience, and Sasi asked if we can come up with such a film. Sasikumar and I were assistant directors back then and after a screening of Sethu in Madurai, we saw a woman come out, only to sit down on the ground and cry profusely. No wonder Ameer Sulthan is reaping the harvest for all the hard work he had done.Paruthiveeran’s climax was not conceived during the scripting stage, but much earlier, when Sethu (1999) was released, in fact. The film is a success because the film has a powerful story, excellent performances and a sincere director. He overlooked every minute aspect of the character, from the body language to the modulation of the dialogue, to what my expression should be when the male lead delivered his lines. "If I have performed well, it's all due to Ameer, the director. She admitted that she followed the director's instructions completely, as she was unaware of how a village girl from Madurai behaved and spoke. But the toughest part was reproducing what he did." He can act very well, and he would act it out for me. Once the shooting started, it was Ameer who guided me. Every week, I used to meet him and ask, are you happy with the progress I have made? He would then ask me to reduce again and reduce my waist, increase my biceps, etc. He first told me to grow my hair and beard. International awards to three of his lead performers - Jeeva, Karthi and Priya Mani - just shows how powerful the characters he creates.Ībout performing for Paruthiveeran, Karthi told last year, "I had faith in my director. His earlier film Ram won two awards - Best Film and Best Actor (Jeeva) at the Cyprus International film festival. It was adjudged the best film at the 9 th OSIAN's-Cinefan film festival for Asia and the Arab world while the lead actress Priya Mani won the Best Actress award.Īwards are not new to director Ameer Sulthan, either. This is not the first award for the film. The main NETPAC prize went to "United Army" by Japanese director Wakamatsu Koji.īoth Paruthiveeran's director and the lead actor Karthi attended the film's international premiere at the Berlinale. The three-member NETPAC jury included Indian film critic Meenakshi Shedde. Paruthiveeran, by Ameer Sulthan, was honoured with a "special mention" from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) at the 58th Berlin International film festival. After Vasantha Balan's Veyil was selected in the Tous les Cinemas du Monde section at the Cannes film festival last year, it is the turn of Paruthiveeran, one of the most realistic films made in 2007 to shine.