Director Mari Selvaraj made his directorial debut in 2018 with Pariyerum Perumal. The film which focussed on the beautiful love story between an upper caste woman and lower caste man and the conflict it caused ranked as one of the most successful films of the year and garnered critical acclaim. His next was Karnan (2021) starring Dhanush in the lead followed by Maamannan in 2023. His latest outing is Vaazhai (2024).

Everyone is talking about Vaazhai because this refreshing film that has touched emotional chords bringing alive the poignant story of rural poverty where struggle is an everyday part of life, yet the protagonists manage to find moments of joy and discovery. Taken right from the pages of Mari Selvaraj’s life, the film is told through the eyes of two boys Sekar and Sivanaindhan for whom the harsh reality is having to labour on banana plantations even as they juggle school. One day Sivanaindhan decides not to go for work and goes to dance, when he returns, a great tragedy awaits him. His sister, friends and many villagers who went to work died as the truck they were travelling in met with an accident.

Mari Selvaraj says,“In every one’s life, there will be that one unforgettable day that completely overturns your life. If anyone asks me who I was, this is what would come to my mind, but I would not reveal it. That story is Vaazhai, I wanted to do it as my first film but later decided that I should postpone it to a time when people know me and want to know me better.

“For children born into poverty and being forced into child labour, school would be appealing only if there was someone they liked there beyond studies. Teachers would respect you, talk to you, dance and bring you happiness. When you come from another world, teachers become focal to your life.

“My teachers were responsible for my interest in art, they created a stage for me and encouraged me to sings and dance. From my first movie, all my teachers would call me and feel happy and proud. Particularly, Vaazhai showed them a different side that they were surprised. After I had danced to Panchimittai selakatti, a kuthu song they knew what happened to the children who went to work but did not know what happened to me.

“I danced mostly to Vijay and Rajini songs at school. There were many Rajini fans at school and they would repeatedly ask me to dance to Oruvan Oruvan Mudalali.
“Everyone thinks cinema is something very big and entering it is not a possibility, that’s how I used to think too. Watching cinema relieved me from the complexities of life and discussing it. This disturbed my daily routine and my family was not very pleased. I then decided to move away from my family and came to Chennai. I joined work as an office boy and when I spoke to Director Ram. I realised that other than commercial cinema, there was another side to it. The realities and truth of people’s lives, political ideologies and thought-provoking cinema that had the potential to change mindsets. I read a lot and watched world cinema, this got me thinking why not become a director. I seriously decided to be a director.

“I had run away from the village, and felt that rather than making films influenced by other films, the subject had to be real. I initially thought that it was not right to talk about the struggles I faced in life but literature taught me to change that into an art form. Creating fiction from non-fiction. Fiction will stay even 100 years later and a truth when transformed into fiction will stand the test of time.

“I have attempted to bring the original emotion in my films. After all that heavy emotion, I wondered how the mindset of the audience would be as they walk out of the theatre and hence the songs. When you listen to music, you will feel like crying and it will bring hope. It helps to balance the emotion. Right from Pariyerum Perumaal, there is a humour element in the first portion but after that it raises a lot of social questions. We are living in a confusion-filled life. What is right to us maybe wrong to another. We can’t just take our own decision and live individually, it’s also based on society. When we take a decision in our lives, we must review whether we are hurting anyone else, shaming them or ostracizing them. Even suicide is related to society and it does not just affect you, it affects your loved ones, it could be your lover, friends or parents.

“If a man and woman move with each other you look at it as against society. By showing it in cinema, there will be a change a small disturbance as with Pariyerum Perumal, Maamannan disturbed many people too. An art form is not for the comfort of a single person. If you have a point of view, it will keep changing. Something in my film could change it too. 10 or 20 years back I would have shot Pariyerum Perumal differently. After seeing so many world movies, my way of making changed. I believe that you can’t judge a film’s success just by theatrical collections. Even if it has made a change in the mindset of a few, it works. Today, my child does not understand my films but when he grows up he will and have an opinion on it.

“The main part of cinema is that when you talk on stage, the audience will reflect on it and come up with their own thoughts. In cinema, you listen to what I see, see the visuals and then come up with your interpretation and thoughts.

“When we film a scene, I know why it’s being shot and this is conveyed through dialogue or visual. What has come into the mind of a writer or director own visual, to make it recreate it. That time you have a bit of fear whether it will come out well.”

When asked whether he expressed his politics freely, he said affirmatively,” All my films I express what I want to show politically somewhere in my films even if it’s as a metaphor. There’s nothing that you can’t show to reach it to all educated and uneducated people.

“Why do we take films on political ideologies? We do it to reach common man.

“We must remember that all of us are equal and the rights that we have, everyone has. Thinking this way makes life easy. Success and failure I don’t think is something big and something that should make us feel bigger than the other. Each person is doing what he likes. One should not look down on others due to economic considerations but look at him as an equal human being. Your father and grandfather might have given you a comfortable life but mine may not have, however that does not mean you should claim that you have been born to take the upper hand. Once you understand this you won’t have the arrogance that you have gone forward. My parents did not work for their personal dreams but to see their children excel.

“Bison was signed during the filming of Pariyerum Perumal. Dhanush’s film was signed on the last day shoot of Karnan. Bison is 75% complete and announced for next summer. There will be a connectivity to my previous films. Today, people understand the closeness between the Director and his films. They also understand why they have shot their films. If you see something which has affected in a film, you are able to relate.

“Dhanush’s upcoming film with me is a historical and will be an important film in my career. It is being postponed as it’s a very big project that requires an lot of research. I need 6 months before the shoot, 6 months for shoot and post-production. We are in discussions with Rajinikanth too for a film.

“A creator understands himself better through his craft. The impact it has left is what matters.” He signs off.