Interview|For the love of movies & Madirashi: Vineeth Sreenivasan

‘Vineeth Sreenivasan’ and his love for Chennai is a much-celebrated meme material in Malayalam social media circles. After ‘Hridayam’—which beautifully romanticised Chennai—Vineeth refuted rumours that his next is also a Chennai-based narrative. As it turns out, he was being deceptive. His new film, ‘Varshangalkku Shesham’ is set in Chennai of the yore, Madras. While 70s Madras is alien to Vineeth, he was always familiar with the land and its vibrant cinema culture through the stories narrated by his father Sreenivasan, and his industry friends. It was a time when Malayalam cinema was completely based in Madras, with Kodambakkam serving as the hub of all aspirants. Most of today’s industry giants were shaped by the sweat, struggles and setbacks they faced in Kodambakkam. ‘Varshangalkku Shesham’, Vineeth says, is inspired by all these “Madirashi kathakal”. “Right from my childhood, I’ve been hearing numerous stories about their Kodambakkam days. Most of these incidents happened way before I was even born, but they still got me fascinated with the city and the vibe there. The seed for ‘Varshangalkku Shesham’ was sown then.”

There’s a lot of hype around ‘Varshangalkku Shesham’, primarily because of its star-studded cast and some rumoured surprises in it. Ahead of the film’s release on Thursday, we catch up with Vineeth to discuss more about his inspirations and creative choices.

Excerpts

Malayalam cinema has seen many films like ‘Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback’, ‘Thirakkatha’, and ‘Udayananu Tharam’ that showcased the good, bad, and ugly side of the film industry. How different is ‘Varshangalkku Shesham’?

All the films that you mentioned are my absolute favourites. In fact, I even revisited ‘Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback’ before starting ‘Varshangalkku Shesham’. I think our audience loves to watch these films because it’s a world that they are not familiar with. Beyond shooting, they still are not aware of 80 percent of the process that goes behind. So, naturally, there will be a curiosity to watch such films. What makes ‘Varshangalkku Shesham’ interesting is its time span, which traverses from the 1970s to 2023. The story is primarily about two friends, Venu and Murali, who arrive in Kodambakkam in the 70s to make it big in cinema. Through their journey, we get to see the changing dynamics of the film industry over the years. Beyond cinema aficionados, this film, I hope, will connect with anyone who has ever dreamt of achieving something in life.

Friendship is a recurring theme in almost all your films…

Friendship is an emotion I value a lot in life. Naturally, it reflects on all my work. Even after 20 years, if I continue doing films, I’m sure an element of friendship will still be there in my stories.

Your brother Dhyan had earlier said that Vinod of ‘Thattathin Marayathu’ is a reflection of your real personality and Umesh in Oru Vadakkan Selfie is partly him. In that sense, is Venu’s character from ‘Varshangalkku Shesham’ based on your father, Sreenivasan?

That’s a good one, but I can’t precisely say if Venu is entirely based on Achan. Before moving to Kodambakkam and entering cinema, Achan was actively doing plays in our hometown. In the film, Venu also treads a similar path. So, their journeys might be similar, but I haven’t incorporated Achan’s character traits as such.