Karthik Subbaraj: ‘Jigarthanda DoubleX’ is my tribute to Clint Eastwood and Satyajit Ray

Director Karthik Subbaraj talks about his sequel/ period outing ‘Jigarthanda DoubleX,’ working with actors who are also filmmakers, and how he discovered that Madurai in the ‘70s was a city that was influenced by pop culture

As I sit down with Karthik Subbaraj at his Stone Bench Creations office, I recalled how, a decade ago, he had come to my tenant’s place, a small-time company that rented out audio and video equipment. A few months later, I learned that he had picked up from them a projector to use as a prop in the background, the one that plays the legendary ‘Malarnthum Malaradha’ track in the first and last scene of Jigarthanda (2014). Naturally, the conversation started with why such attention to detail was necessary. “While writing a scene, there are certain aspects that have to be perfect for it to be converted well onto film. I think it’s necessary for each film, and it does make a difference,” says a smiling Karthik Subbaraj, who, almost ten years later, is back in the world of Jigarthanda with its spiritual sequel, Jigarthanda DoubleX.

Excerpts from a conversation:

Absolutely. When we made the first promo for the first Jigarthanda, it featured a poster of Clint Eastwood. In the new film, the script lends itself very close to the Western tropes, and I have tried to explore it to the maximum. This is the closest tribute I can do for Western films and Eastwood.

The story of Jigarthanda DoubleX is set in 1975, and at that time, Satyajit Ray was a working legend, and I wanted to incorporate it into the story. When we introduce the character of a filmmaker as someone who had assisted Ray, the character’s dimensions change drastically — how he behaves, his costumes and so on. It’s also another tribute.

If Iravi’s Arul felt similar to his character in Jigarthanda DoubleX, I wouldn’t have approached him. Apart from their profession, both characters are very different. Even performance-wise, not a single scene will remind the audience of Arul.

He has done a lot of horror-comedy films, but as an actor, I was impressed with his work in Parthen Rasithen. In it, despite limited screen time, his body language and screen presence embodied the villainous trait of that character. I felt the performer in him hasn’t been explored much, and while this is completely different from his roles in recent films, that’s what excited both of us about his character in Jigarthanda DoubleX.

Totally! Both were in their characters throughout the film and put much thought into it. There were a lot of discussions, and the fact that they didn’t let anything distract them from thinking about their characters for almost a month made it a very healthy atmosphere.