‘Coffee with Kaadhal challenged the writer in me’

CHENNAI: The title of director Sundar C’s upcoming film was unveiled on Monday. Titled Coffee With Kaadhal, the film has a star ensemble of Jai, Jiiva, Srikanth, Amrita Aiyer, Malvika Sharma, Raiza Wilson, Aishwarya Dutta, Dhivyadharshini (DD), Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley, Pratap Pothen, and Vichu Vishwanath among others. The director is known for delivering blockbusters with such casting coups. “The pre-production has to be meticulously planned when you are making film with stars. It has to be organised properly. The secret is that such films should be shot in a single stretch as the call-sheets of these actors should be intact. We can’t afford to take the pre-production stage light and take it day-by-day on the sets. Things will go for a toss. With lots of efforts going behind pre-production, the shooting indeed felt like a vacation. The actors came to the sets, did their work to perfection and enjoyed doing what they did,” says the Anbe Sivam director.

Coffee with Kaadhal is another Sundar C film set in the backdrop of Ooty after Ullathai Alli Thaa, Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar and Aambala among others. “I love shooting in Ooty. I don’t believe taking off to foreign for shooting films until the script demands it. Moreover, our audience cannot relate to a story when it is entirely shot in foreign counttries. Having said that, Ooty is my favourite place to shoot as it has something new to offer everytime. Coffee with Kaadhal is a feel good film not only in the narrative aspect but also visually. I had shot for a day at a house in Coonoor for Aambala. The house was one of the characters in the story and takes it forward. The hill station has worked wonders for me and has an emotional connect behind my blockbuster films,” he says.

Sunday has constantly raised the bar with comedy and commercial entertainers. According to him Coffee with Kaadhal was the most challenging one as a writer. “I must tell you this. Coffee with Kaadhal is the most challenging subject I have written in my career. It is a feel good story that revolves around three brothers and the obstacles they face in their respective lives. There are several rom-coms is Tamil, comedy films and actions. In fact the number of action films are too high that people have started carrying sickles and knives with them to theatres. However, there are only a handful of feel-good films. In Coffee With Kaadhal, there is romance, but that doesn’t dominate. You will laugh heartily but it isn’t a comic caper. I had to balance it out so that there is everything for the audience in it. The characters are plentiful that I had to give equal amount of screen space to everyone. It was indeed challenging. I believe that dialogues have to be strong enough for a film to have a special place in people’s hearts. Coffee with Kaadhal will have such dialogues and will make the movie timeless,” the director opens up.

Working with Jiiva and Jai yet again after Kalakalappu 2, he says, “They are talented actors and have mutual respect for each other. There was absolutely no ego on the sets. They are good friends and their chemisty has reflected well in the film’s output.”

Coming back to dialogues, we quote someone Sundar C’s underrated dialogues from Unakaaga Ellam Unakaaga, Ullathai Alli Thaa and Kalakalappu franchise. He laughs and says, “They are inspired from my real-life incidents. Do you remember the jogging scene from Unakaaga Ellam Unakaaga where Goundamani tells Karthik on how he puts up with Vinu Chakravarthy’s insult for the sake of having three proper meals a day? ‘Maapla moonu vela sothukaaga un appan pesardhelaam poruthukaren’. I keep telling my assitants the same. ‘Moonu vela sothukaaga enalaam panna vendi iruku’ (Things one has to do to earn three proper meals a day). Even Yogi Babu’s scene from Kalakalappu 2 where he says ‘En modulation la solla sonna un modulation la solra’ is something I use often with my assistants,” he concludes.

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