Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 23, 2016)

Sixteen years after the Tamil version of Kamal Haasan's critically acclaimed but controversial bi-lingual, Hey Ram, was selected as India's official entry to the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language film, another Tamil film is now LA-bound, hoping to bring home the coveted but elusive Oscar.

After bagging three National Awards for Best Feature Film in Tamil, Best Supporting Actor for Samuthirakani and Best Editing for Kishore Te, Vetrimaaran's thriller, Visaranai, is India's official entry to the 89th Academy Awards. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and received a standing ovation.

"From the last two-three days speculations have been rife and my social media was crawling with memes. When I got the official confirmation and started informing family and friends no one was surprised," laughs four-time National Award-winning director Vetrimaaran, speaking to Mirror from Chennai.

Produced by Raanjhanaa and Shamitabh actor, Dhanush, the film is based on the novel, Lock Up, written by an autorickshaw driver M Chandrakumar aka Auto Chandra. It follows organised crime within the police force and throws light on brutality in the lock-up.

Dhanush took to social media to express his elation, stating that this is the ninth Tamil film chosen to bring the Oscar statuette to India.

Vetrimaaran admitted that both Dhanush and he were confident the film would make a whopping profit which it did. "We made the film on a budget of Rs 3-4 crore and all of Tamil Nadu watched the film. We released it with English and Hindi subtitles too and are now looking to re-release it, trying to work out a deal with our distributors," he informed.

In the past, Mehboob Khan's Mother India with Nargis in the title role in 1957 had lost the prized trophy to the Italian film, Nights of Cabaria, by a solitary vote in the third round. In 1988, Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay, was out-voted by the Danish film, Pelle the Conqueror, and in 2001, Aamir Khan's Lagaan was bowled out by the Bosnian tragic-comic war drama, No Man's Land. Last year, Chaitanya Tamhane's Marathi film, Court, failed to make it to the top five.

Vetrimaaran reasons that that Americans don't know much about Indian cinema and that is why our films are losing out.

"The reason our film got selected was because the jury understood and liked it despite it being in Tamil. I think we have a shot at making the grade. It's going to be a long learning process but we are going to promote the film aggressively over the next few months," he asserted.
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Coimbatore rickshaw driver M Chandrakumar, whose book inspired Dhanush’s Visaranai, talks about India’s entry to the Academy Awards
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; September 23, 2016)

"It's a proud moment. I am really overwhelmed,” gushes M Chandrakumar. The Coimbatore-based auto rickshaw driver, fondly known as Auto Chandran, is over the moon with Dhanush’s production venture, Visaranai, based on his life, edging past 28 films to be chosen as India’s official entry to the Oscars 2017. The film had earlier won three National Awards — Best Tamil Film, Best Supporting Actor (Samuthirakani), and Best Editing (T E Kishore), but Chandran hadn’t imagined that it could enter the Academy Awards race. “ I want to thank Dhanush and Vetrimaaran (director). Thanks to their efforts, my voice has been heard all over the globe,” he says.

The film’s subject was largely borrowed from the 53-year-old’s memoir of sorts, Lock Up (2006) — how he was arrested in 1983 and tortured by cops in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh for a fortnight for a crime he hadn’t committed. “I was working as a waiter at a hotel in Andhra Pradesh, when two of my friends and I were arrested. For 13 days, our life was made hell. Cops would beat and starve us just because they wanted us to confess to an offence that we weren’t responsible for. Those bitter memories still haunt me,” he recounts.

The class X dropout had run away from home and after a brief stint in prison, started driving auto rickshaw for a living. He wrote books while waiting for passengers. “Not even in my wildest dreams, had I thought I would achieve so much after the film was made on my book,” he adds. Chandran travelled to the Venice film festival with the team of Visaranai last year. There, the film bagged the prestigious Cinema for Human Rights Award.

Does he wish to be part of the Oscar trip too? He says, “I don’t know if I am going, but I hope that I get a chance to travel to LA. It all depends on the team and how things work out.” When hitlist got in touch with director Vetrimaaran, he sounded ecstatic about the selection: “My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the news broke. I am happy with all the international appreciation that the film has received. Even the audience loved the film.”

In a press statement, Dhanush thanked the cast and crew of the film. “It’s a joyous moment for all of us,” he said.