"All heroes like my films but will not act in mine" - Agathian - Interview

The only director from Tamil filmdom to bag the National Award, Agathian makes a comeback with the bilingual (Tamil- Telugu) Selvam. He produces and directs the film with a relatively lesser-known hero Nandha and has Uma, Vani and Monika as the leading ladies. Banking on the strength of the subject and promising to give a realistic film, Agathian speaks about his forthcoming film Selvam.

Why did you turn a producer?
To be frank, no producers approached me. So I decided to produce it myself in Tamil. If you organize the finance then you can depute people to do the work and concentrate on direction. Apart from this, in my previous film Ramakrishna, I had to make some compromises. Here, I have no such compulsions. As for heroes, they all like my films but will not act in my direction. My subjects do not offer anything for them. My subjects will not have fights. Only music plays an important role; here again, Deva has done a good job. I believe that this film would give Nandha a break, like what my Gokulathil Seethai did for Karthik.

Why did you change the title from Vedanthangal to Selvam?
The title was already registered by some one else and so I opted for Selvam.
The life of the hero is like a bird sanctuary. Seasonal birds migrate. Some come back, while others don’t. Selvam meets many characters from his past including three girls who played an important part in his life. Yet another reason for the title is that Selvam (money) too plays a major part in his life.

Does the film have shades of Autograph?
There is nothing similar to Autograph in Selvam. My story has a new concept. The only similarity is there is one hero and three heroines in both the films. In Selvam the three girls are not romantically linked with the hero. My theme is that there is something more than love in everybody’s life.

Can we see the Agathian magic once again?
(Laughs) I remain the same! In different films, I explore different subjects. Sometimes it reaches out to the masses. To me Selvam has been satisfying. My earlier film Ramakrishna faced financial constraints and hence did not get released on time. Every film had some drawbacks, but this time I feel it will be like Kadhaal Kottai and Gokulathil Seethai.