Director Hari interview: On Vishal’s ‘Rathnam’ and his evolution as a filmmaker

Director Hari talks about reuniting with Vishal in his upcoming film ‘Rathnam,’ evolving from fast cuts to long-oners, writing memorable supporting characters, and how he scouts for locations and actors

Director Hari is an interviewer’s delight; he loves to talk about films, shares interesting anecdotes about his films — some of which are cult classics today — and gets excited when you point out a deft filmmaking touch past the Sumo car chases and fast cuts he has become synonymous with.

Fascinatingly, for someone who has been in the industry for more than 20 years, Hari says he has never done a film hoping to hit a certain box-office number. “The idea has always been to deliver a good film enjoyed by the masses. My only concern while making a film is to stick to the promised budget. Otherwise, I never get into the business aspects of it. A producer invests money and I’ll be happy if he makes a huge profit; I invest my talents and want the film to get me a good name,” says the filmmaker. His upcoming film Rathnam sees him collaborating for the third time with Vishal after Thaamirabharani (2007) and Poojai (2014), and from the looks of it, he’s got something different in the offing.

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I don’t write scripts, I narrate the story and it keeps getting recorded, which is then turned into written content by my ADs. I don’t have paperwork for the screenplay at all; scene construction happens, which doubles as the screenplay, and from there, I jump to dialogue writing. At that point, I ask them to tell me what they have written all that while and I come up with the lines for those scenes. Once that’s done, then comes in the paperwork, but even then, I don’t write anything though it’s been 17 films (laughs). I would say this goes on for at least 10 drafts and improvisation happens until the day before the shoot. On the day of the shoot, there might be some minor changes but that’s just to glorify the scenes.

I don’t use precise technical terms to describe a scene to my technicians; I just explain how I want it to be. If I’m going to use editing terms with an editor, he might get irritated after a point. For example, I don’t tell my stunt director that I want a somersault; I tell him that once the stuntman gets punched, he should flip around like how a monkey does. Similarly, I get annoyed if someone talks to me technically about filmmaking. When they’re specialists in those streams, you leave it to them about how it’s done. You just tell a cardiologist that you’re having some discomfort; you don’t talk to them about blood vessels.

We have to keep reassuring that each technician is an expert in their own domain. Not only does this increase their confidence but also makes them feel comfortable to work with us again. Slackers can’t work with me; they’ll run away in a couple of days. Contrary to my discussion space, my shooting spots would buzz with activity. There, I aim to do a minimum of two shifts a day so that in six months I would have done at least 12-18 months of groundwork. That time helps me to find what we are looking for. If you’re looking for any fish, just a fishhook and some bait are enough, but if you want mudfish, you have to get dirty in the mud and keep digging.

We discuss everything, from my films as well as other ones; how contemporary or outdated they are, the technology used in them and even current affairs. We were recently talking about how Ukraine’s President (Volodymyr Zelenskyy) used to be a comedian. That’s a nice arc for a villain; imagine an antagonist who has come up the ladder but still doesn’t forget his roots. That’s basically the characteristics of Perumal Pichai (the antagonist of his hit film Saamy played by Kota Srinivasa Rao). That’s why you have to keep digging to find both the meen and the scene (laughs).