CHENNAI: Bharathiraja may come across as a tough person to many. He indeed was a fire when he is behind the camera but a child when he is off shoot. In several personal conversations with the iconic filmmaker on what he would call himself if not for an ‘Iyakkunar Imayam’ or Bharathiraja, he said, “Dei chinna paiyyan da naan. I am young, always young at heart.”
Though he has his house in Neelankarai, he spent most of his time at his farmhouse in Theni, all alone. “I don’t want to be questioned by anyone. I like being all by myself in the middle of nature. I don’t want to bother other people and I don’t want to be bothered by anyone. My children have sorted their lives out. It is good to be independent,” he said with a laugh.
He liked his drinks in the evening as he watched the sunset by his farm. But nothing kept him away from cinema even when his health worsened. He was on a schedule break while shooting for Dhanush’s Thiruchitrambalam while he fell sick due to dehydration and was brought to a city hospital in a critical condition. He was on ventillator for a couple of days and took another few days to regain his consciousness. While his late son Manoj Bharathiraja was in tears looking at his father’s condition, Bharathiraja opened his eyes and the first words he spoke was ‘take me to the sets’. Despite several warnings, he was miraculously regained his full health and was shooting. “Cinema keeps me alive and nothing can stop me,” he told us with a pride in his eyes. You will stay alive forever with the cinema you have made and talents you have introduced.