Manoj Beedha speaks about Vanjagar Ulagam and his love for cinema

For someone who has learned screenwriting course at the New York film academy, Manoj Beedha seems to have an inclination towards Indian cinema, particularly Kollywood. On being quizzed if international cinema has influenced his decision to enter films, he responds in affirmative. If his Indian inspirations are director Mani Ratnam, Gautham Menon, and Vetrimaaran, his international inspirations are Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog ”I can go on and on about the films which inspired me to set foot in cinema”.

In the Kollywood film industry, every Friday we see a new filmmaker unveils his talent. And it’s usually a romantic film or an action one. This is where Manoj Beedha wants to stand out. ”I didn’t want to do the usual. I wanted a career-defining movie.” His film Vanjagar Ulagam is stated to be a dark thriller is releasing this Friday, 7th September. After speaking about international cinema one may assume that he likes unconventional films. However, Manoj confesses that he loves ‘masala’ films. He actually considers it a challenge to make a good ‘masala’ entertainer. He says ”I like masala movies but I don’t think I can make them. You need a special skill to make a masala film, It’s tough to make one. I can try but I am not sure if I can be successful in making one.”

”If you watch director Vetrimaaran’s Polladhavan it’s such a great commercial film. Even Vijay’s Thuppakki is one” he adds. ”Everything is a challenge working in films, you have to make sure everything is going well” He says that his cinematographers Saravanan and Rodrigo del Rio Herrera (a Mexican) have worked hard to make sure the consistency is maintained.

Ask him about the idea behind Vanjagar Ulagam he says ”Initially it was a project that only friends were supposed to work on, but then when we narrated the script to Guru Somasundaram he immediately agreed, as he found the role to be a challenging one. And since he is such a good actor, we all had to make sure we are doing our part well”

Manoj also spoke about his future plans and his response was quite practical. He stated that he is taking on step at a time, however, he has already begun working on the script of his second film.”My script will have strong and powerful characters. I will approach the actors for the film only based on the script.” Manoj aspires to work on a Bollywood film one day, as it will help reach his film to a wide platform.

On being quizzed about working on a web series he that he will be producing one, and the work for which is yet to begin. And on being asked which web series he’s currently binge watching he says ”None now. But I did watch the Sacred Games and it’s fantastic”.