Sudha Kongara is emphatic about Sarfira being different from the Tamil original. “Everything is different . Since the milieu and actors have changed you saw a different film I hope audience will see captain Gopinath’s and his wife’s lives through the eyes of AK and radhika . Their interpretation is fresh even for me after having lived with this film for years now ! AK and Radhika Maddan have hit the ball out of the park as everyone else in the cast including the people of Bhor who starred in the film .
Director Sudha Kongara says she is not perturbed by the comparisons between Soorarai Pottru and its remake Sarfira which opened this weekend. “The core is so universal , so pan-world that it doesn’t have to be changed at all or rather shouldn’t be changed . But for relatability to the different audience we are looking at now , the situating of the story is completely different . I wanted it as real and as close to the characters’ roots as possible . Hence , however difficult it was , we shot in live locations, deep interiors of Maharashtra and the Deccan plateau. I think that’s the strength of this film. The casting of even the smallest of characters and the junior artistes had to be authentic . And we enjoyed doing that.”
The experience of working in the two languages was very different for the director. “I worked with a brilliant first AD called Abhishek Kapoor . I was smiling and relaxed on my sets for the first time in my entire career . I have never had that down South . And we do a lot more jugaad down south to make things happen . I think it’s more streamlined and planned here . The first AD system is something I am definitely carrying to my Tamil films with me ! Apart from that , it’s the same.Levels of discipline and focus from everyone . And it helped that Akshay Kumar and I are freshest and jumping off the walls early in the morning at 4 am ! So we both want to shoot early and so the working style was in perfect sync . I shoot in a certain way and that becomes difficult if call times are not followed . So this was bliss . My actor and I would do readings at 4 am in the morning ! My writer would want to kill us both.”
Sudha admits she is concerned by Akshay’s recent flop track record. “Of course it bothers me at one level. I remember AK came one day for his shoot and his film released the previous day was not doing well and he was very attached to the film . I felt he was low and that affects me . I am very sensitive to my actors moods . I kept asking him If he was okay . And then he shot according to me his best scene of the film . The Udipi hotel scene . He was terrific . An that’s what it is with great professionals . The standard of their work never falls . The same way , Friday to Friday destinies change at the box office , but not the talent of the star . He is brilliant and there is powerful content . So there’s not even a bit of worry on that front for me . The boxoffice standing or success of a star never bothers me . I work with blinkers . And as long as they are giving me their best am fine. No worries!”
Speaking on what attracted her to G. R. Gopinath’s experiences, Sudha says, “His never-say-die attitude . His maverick attitude . And the brave brave visionary that he is . The fact that he was such a disruptor attracted me . I love disruptors . Their grit and purpose and travails in getting to their goals move me like nothing else in this world . To change the face of a country’s aviation.And that too by a school teacher’s son from the rural areas of India is awe inspiring . The world sees such people as mad, crazy and perhaps foolish when they are in their journey but when they achieve it , it is magic.I find it easier telling real stories . I love real human emotions and that’s what there is in loads , in real life stories . Even though I may fictionalise and dramatise these stories, the core fascinates and guides me . After all what is cinema but life with all the dull bits cut out ,like Hitchcock said .I am obsessively in love with this mad mad maverick character . He told me, ‘Sudha , tell the youth of India that when an ordinary person from an ordinary background can actually start an airline then anyone can do anything if they dream enough and the dream becomes them and they become their dream.’This IS my takeaway from him.I am happy . It’s been rewarding and enriching because I learnt a new culture, language , and worked with extraordinary talent and new processes . So when the journey is so exciting and new, that’s my reward.”