Tamil star Sivakarthikeyan, whose Parasakthiis set for release on Saturday, has opened up about the 20-odd changes implemented by the makers to comply with the instructions of the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
For the unversed, the makers of the Sudha Kongara directorial had approached a revising committee of the CBFC to appeal the changes that were suggested by the board. Following this, the CBFC cleared the film with a U/A certificate after the makers agreed to make the necessary changes and cuts suggested by the revising committee.
Now, in a press interaction on Friday evening, lead star Sivakarthikeyan said that the team had no time to negotiate with the CBFC and had to focus on ensuring that the changes were implemented properly. “The Censor Board has its own set of rules, regulations and criteria. Now, our focus was entirely on how to implement those changes without affecting the film’s core. We didn’t have time to get into why they suggested these changes and so on. The changes came only in the afternoon, after which we had to implement them and load the film on CUBE,” said the star, adding that the team had been working like “a military camp” to ensure the changes were made, and the film released smoothly. “We had DI and CGI personnel on stand-by for over 24 hours, because it isn’t easy to implement those changes. The more advanced the technology has become, the more difficult it has become in certain ways.”
The star heaved a sigh of relief, stating that the film’s team had given their best to ensure the cuts didn’t disrupt the narrative flow of the film. “Thankfully, the cuts weren’t too random; the team was able to match them somehow, ensuring they don’t disrupt the experience and deliver the final cut within the 10 hours we had,” he said, while stressing that he believes the film communicates the core message despite the censorship. “The core emotion — the love for one’s language — is something we all have. So I believe that I don’t need an extra dialogue to communicate that love; the story itself will do it well. So if that feeling gets communicated to the audiences, that would be the film’s success,” he said.
Sudha Kongara and Sivakarthikeyan on the sets of ‘Parasakthi’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Parasakthi, a period drama, is based on the historical student movement against Hindi imposition in the 1960s, which changed the political landscape of Tamil Nadu. The star clarified that the film tells a fictional story of two brothers. “But this fictional story is set against the backdrop of the student movement, and we see how it transpired between 1959 and 1965.”
He stressed that the film isn’t against Hindi or Hindi-speakers, but against Hindi-imposition. “In fact, there’s a dialogue urging people to learn the language of the land they travel to. Moreover, the film doesn’t say one language is better than the other; we don’t have to put down someone else to speak about one’s pride,” he said, adding that what inspired him about the tale is how the student never resorted to unethical means to protest. “There’s so much written on how many died during the struggle, but there’s no record of them hurting anyone. Sure, there were incidents of clashes with the police, but they didn’t intentionally attack anyone, like, say, through vandalism.”
Parasakthi was earlier slated to clash with superstar Vijay’s Jana Nayagan at the box office, a match-up that has now become null and void since the release of Jana Nayagan — which has been stuck in its own battle with the CBFC — has been postponed. When asked about how the news has disrupted his ‘Annan-Thambi’ Pongal — something Siva had mentioned at the audio launch of Parasakthi— he said, “We just wanted both the films to run well in these 10 days of Pongal holidays. Now, all I am hoping is for Jana Nayagan to run well whenever it releases.”
Ever since the two tentpole films announced their release dates, Siva has been subjected to a lot of online hate, with many speculating a tiff with Vijay. Rubbishing the rumours, Siva said, “I see Vijay anna as my elder brother, and he sees me as his younger brother. Many might have their own opinion and expectations, but we can’t satisfy them all, no? We just have to speak our mind and keep doing our work.”
Similarly, on being repeatedly targeted by a select few, Sivakarthikeyan said that while he’s aware of the entity behind the attacks, he intends to only focus on his work. “If I keep fighting back, I will lose focus on my job. If someone who used to do comedy films can now do a serious film about a revolution, it is only because of focus.”
The Amaran star also revealed that his upcoming film with GOAT-maker Venkat Prabhu is a sci-fi fantasy for which the team is currently doing pre-production. Meanwhile, it was announced long ago that he would reunite with his Don-director Cibi Chakaravarthy for a film. “But when he got the offer to do a thalaivar film,” — Cibi is all set to helm Rajinikanth’s next — “I told him ‘Go finish that, Cibi; we can do our film later’,” said Sivakarthikeyan.
Also starring Ravi Mohan, Sreeleela and Atharvaa Murali, Parasakthi has music composed by GV Prakash Kumar. Notably, this is the composer’s 100th film. With cinematography by Ravi K Chandran, the film has editing by Sathish Suriya and production design by MR Karthik Rajkumar. Aakash Baskaran produces the film under the Dawn Pictures banner.
