Sri: People say it is a
pucca masala film...
K.V. Anand: I do not agree at all if someone says that! A
masala film generally refers to a regular film with formulaic fights and songs. This film is not really in the same league. We did intense research of how
kurvi (post, another word of smuggling in Tamil) happens; we even talked to several people in Chennai's Burma Bazaar, and more...
Sri: People say it has shades of
Catch Me If You Can (Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer directed by Steven Spielberg),
Quantum of Solace (Daniel Craig's latest James Bond film). Also, drugs being carried in stomach seems to be inspired by the Mexican film
Maria Full of Grace...
K.V. Anand: The film story is as old as the Himalayas, and anyone can tell uncountable movies with similarities. The truth is that the movie is based on the novel that was written much before the 1990s. Both the English movies you mentioned were released after this novel came out, and I have all the proof to support my statement. It is based on MADIPADI KUTTRANGAL' published in famous KUMUDAM Publication in September 1990. Only one scene was taken from the Mexican film though - the scene where people get blindfolded and take drugs to gulp them down to carry with them. Nothing else was taken from anywhere!
Sri: Surya's chase shot in foreign locales is similar to the first chase scene in
Quantum of Solace, though!
K.V. Anand: (Laughs) Use any martial art like karate or kung-fu, and people quickly call it a copy of Jackie Chan's or Bruce Lee's films! The chase in
Veedokkade is called "parkour", which is considered close to martial arts. It became popular with films like
Casino Royale and
Quantum of Solace, but the art form is itself is old enough - parkour has its roots in times before World War I!
Sri: How was the scene executed? Did you use wires like we generally do in fight scenes or...
K.V. Anand: No wires were used for the scene. It's completely done with hard work, I should say. When we had that scene planned, the stunt-master came from South Africa along with two of his assistants. I showed him where the fight is supposed to be shot. He took all the necessary measurements at the location and discussed how the fight must be done. He went back, designed it as planned, and practiced it applying the measured dimensions, and all this was much before the actual shooting. When we scheduled to shoot, Surya went on rigorous training for three days and refused to go with a stunt double (dupe). We shot the fight for seven days that followed the three days of training.
Sri: What type of camera did you use for the fight? Steady-cam is the usual choice, right?
K.V. Anand: That's right, steady-cam is the best for chase scenes, and we used the same for this fight.
Sri: And the scene where Surya's friend gets killed? How did you shoot that one?
K.V. Anand: We used the jimmy jib camera crane for it. We hired it for seven days, and I used it for the scene fully, so that we get aerial shots as well as close-up shots with it.
