Deep Focus: Recent Episodes
Film Companion
Writers, directors and producers take us through the process of writing, directing and making the film sharing some exclusive insights into various scenes and the reason behind making it in that way.
Baradwaj Rangan is a National Award-winning film critic. He has authored Conversations with Mani Ratnam and Dispatches From the Wall Corner. His long-form story on Vikram was featured in The Caravan Book of Profiles, as one of their “twelve definitive profiles.” He has written screenplays and works for theatre.
In the deep focus, director #ArunMatheswaran talks to Baradwaj Rangan about his latest film #Rocky. The films stars #VasanthRavi, #BharathiRaja and #RaveenaRavi. The filmmaker deep dives into the dark world of Rocky, building the characters of the film, the much-talked-about violence in the film and much more.
Director #Selvaraghavan, in this episode of Deep Focus, details about his #Dhanush starrer #MayakkamEnna to #BaradwajRangan.
In this Deep Focus, Director #KarthikSubbaraj talks to #BaradwajRangan about making his latest hit #Mahaan.
In this Deep Focus, Director #FranklinJacob talks to #BaradwajRangan about making his latest hit #Writer.
In this Deep Focus, Director #VineethSreenivasan talks to #BaradwajRangan about making his latest hit #Hridayam.
BasilJoseph in this interview with #BaradwajRangan talks about #MinnalMurali and his process of making a grounded superhero film.
VenkatPrabhu in this interview with Baradwaj Rangan talks about the success of #Maanaadu, and explains in detail about the writing process behind it.
RajBShetty in this episode of Deep Focus with Baradwaj Rangan talks in detail about his recent release, the gangster drama #GarudaGamanaVrishabhaVahana. #RishabShetty
NelsonDilipkumar in this interview with Baradwaj Rangan breaks down several scenes from #Doctor, shares his process of writing #KolamavuKokila, about his upcoming film #Beast and many more!
Vijay in this interview with Baradwaj Rangan talks extensively about #Thalaivii. He goes in to detail about it's writing process, about how he Collaborated with #KVVijayendraPrasad and #MadhanKarky. He also shared some insights in to the research that happened for the film and also about what inspired him to do this film in the first place and many more!
PaRanjith talks in detail about the craft of #SarpattaParambarai, takes us through his process of making the film. Sharing some exclusive insights into the characters, challenges while writing the film and more .
MaheshNarayanan, the editor and director of the recent Amazon Prime movie #Malik, takes us through his process of making the film. Sharing some exclusive insights into various scenes, challenges while writing the film and more. #FahadhFaasil
Director #LeenaManimekalai talks to Baradwaj Rangan about her recent OTT release #Maadathy, the research that went into the film about a community that is the "Dalits among the Dalits", how sexual violence is normalised, why she wanted to show male nudity and wanted to have raw and natural languages that were spoken among the community.
KarthikSubbaraj talks in detail about the world of #JagameThandhiram. He talks about the cuts he had to make, the criticism about the film, heroism, and how #Dhanush reacted to playing a largely negative character. #SanthoshNarayanan#AishwaryaLekshmi
Kala director#RohithVS takes us through his process of making the film and also sharing his insights into various scenes. He also explains his specific choices in the areas of cinematography, sound design and colour.
Director #ArunPrabuPurushothaman talks to Baradwaj Rangan about his recent movie #Vaazhl, his experiences while making the film, why #Sivakarthikeyan was not able to understand his narration and more.
In this episode of #DeepFocus Baradwaj Rangan talks to Director #Selvaraghavan on the philosophy behind the Horror Film #NenjamMarappathillai Starring #SJSuryah #Regina #Nanditha #yuvanshankarraja
Director #JeethuJoseph talks about how he wrote the year's most anticipated sequel #Drishyam2, the character of #Mohanlal and others, and whether Georgekutty's movie will ever get made.
Resul Pookutty explains the fascinating new technology he invented for 2.0, 4DSRL, and the effort that went in to creating a new dimension of sound.
Gautham Vasudev Menon discusses the writing of Yennai Arindhaal, starring Ajith, and talks about his love for cop stories (including Kaakha Kaakha, starring Suriya, and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, starring Kamal Haasan). He says the three films -- the three characters -- are a continuum. He talks about how Ajith never asked him to tweak the script to make it more heroic. He reveals that Anushka's role wasn't originally something he wanted. He talks about why he opted out of Dasavatharam.
He talks about collaborating with Shridhar Raghavan and Thiagarajan Kumararaja, during the writing process. He talks about the Moondru Mugam influence. He talks about voiceovers. He talks about the dead wives/lovers in his films. He talks about his inability to write 'bad' fathers. He discusses his love for journeys (also in Vaaranam Aayiram). He talks about not going beyond the first draft. And he speaks about Harris Jayaraj, Thamarai, and the Unkannenna Venum Sollu song.
Gautham Vasudev Menon, the director of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa takes us through his process of writing the film. Sharing some exclusive insights into various scenes and why he choose to write/film it in that way. He additionally explains his specific choices in the areas of colour, sound design, background score, cinematography and editing.
Milind Rau, the director of Aval, Gruham, The House Next Door talks about the craft involved in directing a horror film. How he alternated between letting the various departments do their own thing and micro-managing it all. He explains what he did in the areas of colour, sound design, background score, cinematography and editing -- and how these (and other departments) came together in the pre-interval exorcism sequence. (He talks about this scene in detail.) He tells how he tried to second-guess the viewer in terms of the scares. And about the classic horror films (The Exorcist, The Omen, Ringu) he used as a reference point, and also paid homage to.
Hema Rukmani, the producer of Mersal, explains what a producer does. How the company (Thenandal Studios Limited) makes decisions about which films to produce. How Mersal, the Vijay blockbuster directed by Atlee (and with music by AR Rahman), came about. She speaks about her involvement in the various stages of making the film, and about the controversies that came about. About the pluses and minuses of making a mega-movie like Mersal versus making several smaller films for the same amount of money. About what it takes to keep a studio running for over four decades. About the studio's shift from small films to big productions like Kaatru Veliyidai, Mersal and the upcoming Sanghamitra. Finally, she talks about the lessons learned from Mersal.
Santhosh Narayanan talks about his composing style, how he makes a basic tune that is then developed and handed out to the players. He plays a BGM piece from Pariyerum Perumal - first on the piano, and then the final output (as played by the whole orchestra). He discusses contributors like Pradeep and Sean Roldan. Finally, he listens to a situation given by Baradwaj Rangan ("imagine you are a robot and you are falling for a human girl") and live-composes a BGM score.