‘It is always tough to film at the mercy of nature’: Director Chimbudeven

A historical comedy (Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi), religious satire (Arai En 305-il Kadavul), Tamil Western (Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam), and a fantasy adventure (Puli), director Chimbudeven seems to be on a mission to dabble in the most quirkiest genres, rarely explored by the Tamil film industry. On the topic of genre, his recent release, Boat seems like the perfect addition to his colourful filmography. “I always wanted to do a survival thriller,” says Chimbudeven.

On how he decided to centre a survival thriller in the middle of the ocean, the director recounts his friend telling him how, “during World War II, whenever Japanese air raids happened, our Tamil fishermen would take their boats and go into the sea to escape the bombings, and that inspired me to write the story.” The director also cites books like The Old Man and the Sea, Thaneer Desam, Kadal Pura, and films like Cast Away and Life of Pi, as inspirations.

Set in 1943, during the height of World War II, Boat revolves around a motley crew of survivors who escape Japanese bombing in a boat and are subsequently stranded in the middle of the ocean. From a fisherman, an upper caste man, a pregnant woman, and a Muslim man, to a British police officer, the director assembles a diverse group of people on the boat, and through that discusses politics and societal issues. He reveals that it is exactly why he chose that period to unravel his story.

“That particular time in the 20th century was really interesting because a lot was happening both politically and culturally. On the one end, there was Mahatma Gandhi, and on the other end, there was Subash Chandra Bose; there was also Muhammad Ali Jinnah and then the Dravidian ideology was just starting to take root. So I thought it would be the perfect time period to set a political comedy which was also a survival thriller.”