Jigarthanda

In a poignant scene in Jigarthanda, an elderly man tells Karthik, a young guy who is on the verge of directing his first film, about the attitude of debutant filmmakers. They will demand everything and not compromise, the old man says and goes on to narrate how he, when he was all set to direct a film after a decade of toil in the industry, refused to accept the request of his producer to cast two of his relatives and walked out of the project saying he will get a thousand other producers for his story. "Aana, kadaisi varikkum aayirathula oruthan kooda varala," he says to make Karthik understand that he has to grab the opportunity that is knocking on his doors, despite the conditions it brings along with it.

Given that Jigarthanda was the first script that Karthik Subbaraj had written before he 'compromised' and made Pizza (the applause that his name generates during the title credits show how influential this young director has become), he should know how a good filmmaker can exploit a compromise. And, that is essentially what the film is all about — a filmmaker forced to make the worst possible compromise turning it into the best possible chance.

The film begins with an award-winning director ( Nasser, in a cameo) and a producer ( Naren) fighting over the merits of Karthik's ( Siddharth) short film on the sets of a reality show. The director dubs it "kuppa padam" and the producer, who clearly has personal issues to settle with him, calls it the best he has seen on the show and announces that he will produce Karthik's first film. But when the young man approaches him, he tells him that he wants not a message movie but a bloody gangster movie. He lists Hollywood films in the genre (The Godfather, Scarface, "Tarantino") and tells Karthik, "Idhu madhiri oru script ready pannu," and without pausing adds, "Illa idhaye script-a pannalum OK".

But like any self-respecting first-time filmmaker, Karthik has too much integrity and so decides that he will make a ga...