He met me for an interview before leaving to Russia for the shoot of ‘Dhaam Dhoom.’ It turned out to be the last one he ever gave.
I woke up this morning to learn that the director of 12B, ‘Ullam Ketkume’ and ‘Unnale Unnale,’ passed away in his hotel room at St. Petersburgh during a shooting schedule of the action entertainer starring Jayam Ravi, Kangana Ranaut and Jayaram.
May his soul rest in peace.
He wanted to do a Take Two and expressed his desire to do one on his return from Russia. He may not have been the most original filmmaker, but he was a man with many dreams and one of the few who defied the star-system. He gave Arya, Pooja, Asin, Shaam and Vinay their first big break.
I reproduce below the interview that appeared only last week, after being held at the desk for over a fortnight.
Though the reviews have been mixed, cinematographer-turned-director Jeeva feels vindicated after the box-office success of ‘Unnale Unnale.’
“It has definitely reached the audience I had in mind. The market in A centres is as big as B and C. It’s just that they don’t go to the theatres because nobody makes films for them. But for ‘Unnale Unnale,’ we have got reports of students going in huge groups. I’m very happy about it.”
12B was a bold, though inspired, debut but the film didn’t do all that well at the box office. His second film, a fairly decent ode to college and friendship, ‘Ullam Ketkume’ was hit by production delays and his Hindi remake of ‘Run’ ran out of theatres.
Maybe, that’s why he wanted to be really sure of getting it right the fourth time. Maybe, that’s also why ‘Unnale Unnale’ is among the most ‘inspired’ of all his films.
That’s among the first questions we ask him: Why does Unnale Unnale seem to be inspired from so many romantic comedies in Hindi and English?
“Suppose you are studying medicine as a medical student, you will go to the library, read up related books,” says Jeeva. “So when we make films, we watch all kinds of films… so many films for reference. It is just a point of inspiration. If I didn’t make characters say ‘Day One,’ (a narrative gimmick seen before in ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’) I would’ve had to show the calendar, which has been used in so many other films.
So maybe one or two things, not completely. Overall, it is a different film.”
“Just like how there are only seven notes in music, there are only a few stories you can tell,” he explains. “We’re not giving proper films for the people in the city. So they watch Hindi films and English films. I wanted to make a classic romantic film in Tamil. It is a realistic film, not a typical fantasy film.”
How did he arrive at the choice of Vinay as the lead?
“I wanted to cast a character in the film. Not a hero. Vinay and Sada suited the characters.
I saw him in an ad, he was very convincing,” says the filmmaker who had earlier launched Shaam, Arya, Asin and Pooja.
No auditions? “Anybody can act. Even you can.”
Tanisha, however, had to be cajoled into doing the film but the script did the trick. “Tanisha is fresh, young and bubbly. She was the right person for the role. First, she was like: ‘What you people only call us for glamour…’ So I told her to read the script and then tell us. Once she read the script, she agreed.”
The idea for ‘Unnale Unnale’ was born out of gender wars. “Men versus Women. That was the starting point. There have been lots of films on the subject. ‘When Harry met Sally,’ ‘Before Sunrise,’ ‘Before Sunset’… ‘French Kiss’ is my favourite. We also borrowed a lot of dialogues from the internet. There are so many interesting jokes on the net.”
Jeeva was convinced that there was one set of movie-going audience that was not watching Tamil films. “There is a huge vaccuum of films catering to the youth. Coimbatore, Trichy, all A centres shows are continuously full. The college goers are enjoying the film. Everybody recollects and connects to what has happened to them in life.”
His next film, ‘Dhaam Dhoom’ is for all centres, meant for a larger audience. The film stars Jayam Ravi, Kangana Ranaut, Lakshmi Rai, Jayaram. The music by Harris Jayaraj and art by Thotta Tharani. “One schedule in Pollachi is over. We have another schedule in Russia.”
Jeeva is also quick to justify his choice of foreign locations, like Australia in ‘Unnale Unnale.’ “When you go to Bombay, you look for people you can associate with, people from the South. Similarly, when you go out of the country, you look for Indians. People become closer when out of country.”
Now that formula-filmmaking has brought him success, does he plan to take the road less travelled 12-B route again?
“12B wasn’t promoted properly. The market is ready for different kinds of films. I want to prove myself first and then with my own money, I’ll make different kinds of films.”
MADRAS INK. 
Oh geez! I read his interview just last week in the paper. How did it happen? May he rest in peace. The suddenness of this is too much to digest.
Sad shit.Sudhish,was that you at Barista,evening of saturday last.Sorry,I wa snot the one staring at you.
Can you give me the contact information of late Jeeva. He was my classmate when we studied together at National College Trichy. I am grieved by his demise. I have always made it a point to associate myself with him when I talked of movies.
May his soul rest in peace. I pray for the good health and well being of his family members.
Thanks in advance
Dear guys,
I have been his admirer even before he came to films. We were classmates in National College B.Com. 1981 84 batch. A great guy with a lot of smile. A guy who had vision. I have been watching his films everytime. When I talk about tamil movies, I always make it a point to associate myself to Jeeva. His last interview on Illayaraja in Indiaglitz. His words showed so much humbleness. I pray for the good health of his family.
Rajaraman P. rajapatta@yahoo.com.
Hey Sudhish, heard that bald bastard was finally forced to stop puking? The blogspace is so much cleaner now. Also heard that someone lodged a police complaint on some of the mindless stuff that he wrote. Even if you played any small part in wiping away that piece of shit, you deserve some applause.
sad,newspapers say reason for his death was heart attack while shooting in Russia.
unnale unnale was a good movie to watch
Dude,
been reading ur blog off and on…
was surprised when someother blog online, somebody had blasted ur review of marie anto… dont get me to the spelling part – was real funny…
anyways, ur reviews are kewl – i like them…
Jeeva’s death is startling. Seems he called up priyadarshana nd told him he is fed up with direction 2 days before his death…
purni:
i guess it was the stress.
he wanted to do some really offbeat work once he had established himself.
My heart goes out to his family.
Just goes on to show that what can be done today, we must not put off till tomorow.
Im quite bad at dealing with news of death, especially when it’s people I’ve known and met.
I run away, remain in denial. Just a matter of time before we become busy enough to forget it. Confronting it makes me uncomfortable. I can’t face relatives and loved ones of the dead. I think it’s personal. Sometimes I think what’s there to say… Because nothing I say will bring the dead back. I have to admit though that it’s not something I’m proud of.
subbu:
no.
besides, im used to being stared at by random people who don’t give a shit about privacy.
ramoo:
i mailed you. hope you were able to reach his family. may his soul rest in peace. my condolences.
bharat:
Really? Or, maybe the kid just decided to grow up and save Ms.Sushila Ravindranath the embarrassment of having hired him.
arvi:
yeah. shooting could get extremely stressful… especially abroad when you can control very little.
mani ratnam has had two heart attacks while shooting for kannathil and yuva. I wish these people took care.
I can quite imagine the stress. Even for a small film like That Four Letter Word, I was so worked up. I just couldnt eat. I still always lose weight during shoot no matter how much I try to stuff myself.
karthik sriram:
yeah read it. that kid had a grudge that i dint cover her college play. i wish they had carried the letter though along with my response.
she’s a kid with a misplaced sense of feminism. maybe they didn’t want to honour her with a response.
like i always say, it isn’t about the similarity about the sexes, it’s about the equality. to say men and women have similar tastes is a bigger gender generalisation than saying they don’t.
obviously, she has never heard of a genre called chick flicks.
I’m guessing soon she’s gonna write letters to publishers of Groucho Marx (“Women should be obscene and not heard”…isn’t he right now?) John Gray, Woody Allen, Steve Martin, Dave Barry, Allan Pease… Maybe I should add women writers too… Barbara Pease, Anne Moir, Nora Ephron, Molly Haskell… 🙂
I’m sure these reputed writers I mentioned dont mind being discussed. And I’m just a small time writer doing my job, why would I care?
Thanks for your support anyway.
Besides, being discussed is a good thing. it shows that you’ve become important and significant enough to piss people off, people who you have never met or would ever want to meet.
where did you read about the priyadarshan bit though?
saw it in sify.com
Donno if my comments reached ur space…the void ate it i guess!
When ppl can endure wathing english, french and even japanese films (no offense whatsoever)… sometime even without sub titles and gush over it to core…I don’t understand why a film that’s made inside India cannot receive such an attenton! Who says it necessarirly ahve to been a art movie to be enjoyed by he masses!?
Frankly to me the whole Shivaji debate thingy is like another “Vote for Taj” spam… for eveyone in India knows that Our Taj is truly a wonder and one does not need anyone’s approval of it! Same way Super Hero’s are Made not claimed!! 🙂 rite?
The debate ur arguments were simply “cool”!