Vasanth

Vasanth (Tamil: வஸந்த்) is an Indian film director and screenwriter, working in the Tamil film industry. Following a stint as journalist and after assisting K. Balachander, he made his directorial debut with Keladi Kanmani in 1990, which along with the trendsetting Aasai (1995) and Rhythm (2000), are considered his finest and most successful films.^[1][2] His films have been described as a "middle path" between parallel and commercial cinema, revolving around social themes and relationships.^[3]

Career

Vasanth began his career as a journalist and short story writer,^[4] before he began working as an assistant director to K. Balachander on 18 films including Sindhu Bhairavi and Punnagai Mannan.^[5] He made his first independent film in 1990, the critically acclaimed film Keladi Kanmani, which starred noted playback singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and enjoyed a 285-days-run at theatres. He next directed Nee Pathi Naan Pathi, titled after a song from his previous film, which focussed on an unwed mother's issue. The film features the song "Nivedha", becoming noted for its visualization and its lyrics consisting of a single word. His third directorial was the thriller Aasai (1995), which became a trendsetter and high financial success that ran for more than 200 days.^[6] Produced by Mani Ratnam, the film marked the first major commercial success and breakthrough for Ajith Kumar, who went on to become a leading actor of Tamil cinema,^[7][8] as well as the feature film debut of lead actress Suvalakshmi, while Vasanth received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Director.

In 1997, Vasanth's next project, Nerrukku Ner released. Also produced by Maniratnam, the film introduced actor Sivakumar's eldest son Suriya, who played a leading role alongside Vijay and Simran. Vasanth's subsequent project Poovellam Kettuppar (1999), also starred Suriya, pairing for the first time with Jyothika, who would later become his wife. The film is especially known as being composer Yuvan Shankar Raja's first major musical success. The following year, two of his directorial released, Appu and Rhythm. The former was appreciated for Prakash Raj's performance as a eunuch, whilst the latter is considered a classic, mainly for its theme and realism by critics and public. Rhythm told the tale of two individuals who lose their life partners in the same accident and overcome their sorrow to start a new relationship. The film's soundtrack, scored by A. R. Rahman consists of five songs, each depicting one of the five elements.^[9] Vasanth had picked Rhythm to be the film "closest to heart".^[10] Hey! Nee Romba Azhaga Irukke (2002) was his following project, with its major attraction being the first ensemble soundtrack in Indian cinema, featuring five songs, composed by five debutant music directors.^[11] In 2007, he made the thriller film Satham Podathey (2007), which was critically acclaimed ^[12][13] and a blockbuster at the box office, while fetching him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Storywriter.^[14] Currently he is working on the scriptment for his next venture, titled Nadai Udai Bhavanai, while he has also announced the launch of another film, titled Moondru Paer, Moondru Kadhal.^[15]

During his sabbaticals from filmmaking, Vasanth has worked on several ad films, short films and documentaries as well.^[16][17] The short films, Thakkayin Methu Naanku Kangal, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film at the 2005 ceremony,^[18] and the critically acclaimed Visaranai Commission, based on Sakithya Academy prize-winning novel by Sa. Kandhasami,^[19] are the other notable works in his career. He has directed more than 40 advertising films for multinational brands and co-directed the Vijay TV extravaganza Netru, Indru, Naalai along with his mentor Mani Ratnam. Besides, Vasanth has been conducting workshops, too, teaching nuances of filmmaking.^[20][21]

His words

In an interview, "Film-making needs a lot of time and concentration. If you want some quality in your work, you have to spend some time on it.My mentor is K. Balachander and I learnt a lot during my apprenticeship days with him. Apart from my Guru, I've liked films of Mahendran for their realism, of Balu Mahendra for their natural earthy dialogues and Maniratnam's films for their technical gloss and style. I feel the story is the soul of a film. We have to do all the decoration no doubt, but the story is the most important factor. People nowadays give importance to the dressing only. Earlier we used to buy vegetables from the neighbourhood vendor. Now we go to AC rooms and buy them. But still the vegetables have to be good. So also, the story is important. But because it is a visual medium, it has to have visual richness too. And that is where one has to keep in step with growing technology. My personal view is that one has to learn the techniques of cinema before venturing into it. The trend these days is to ride piggyback on the talents of other technicians to give the impression of being a good director. But you can't survive that way for long. Earlier, there were good storywriters and there were films makers who knew the technique of filmmaking. But now, the writers are directing and vice versa.One good emotion and one good treatment. Dish out emotions like love and revenge, which our audiences identify with. Convey them in a straightforward manner".^[22]

Filmography

References

External links

• Vasanth at the Internet Movie Database
• Vasanth at thenisai