JEANS ARE HOT!

Jeans, with its extensive schedules abroad, is a multi-crore rupee movie. Isn’t the budget too high for a Tamil film?
Even though Jeans is a Tamil film, it’s not meant just for the Tamil Nadu market or the south. Shankar is a director whose name attracts business abroad and his thoughts are clear as to what he wants out of Jeans. The starcast is so planned that I can exploit the movie abroad. To cite an example, when we were shooting at the posh radio drive in Hollywood, a crowd gathered to watch Aishwarya shoot because her fame as the Miss World had preceded her. Usually, Indian films get a low priority in Hollywood circles especially among the elite. We have the potential to go international but our standards are not good enough, in fact I think our directors have to think of working on one film at a time so that they give a good product. Shankar, I feel is a very disciplined man who gives his all to the film on hand. I am planning to have an international premiere of Jeans in LA.

How has Jeans shaped up?
Visually it’s stunning and it’s like a dream come true for me. The film will have a repeat audience because of the fantastic visuals and other exciting elements introduced in it. We shot for 45 days in the States and at all the seven wonders of the world.

In Hollywood, the present trend is to make movies
which are action-oriented, costing several billion dollars.
How do you fit into this scenario?
The best part of making films in Hollywood is that the public does not go by any trend. Even an action film with a massive budget and publicity can crash. You can make the movie you want and if it’s good, it will be lapped up by the audience irrespective of what the budget is or who the actor playing the lead role is. Generally, all over the world, thrillers and romances draw the audience. But then, in Hollywood, it is not a must that you make such movies.

You ventured into teleserials like Marmadesam which you co-produced with K Balachander. Now you seem to have withdrawn from the scene?
No thanks, only the big screen attracts me. The money that you get from producing serials is very small and it comes to you after a long time from the ad agencies. It’s just not worth the trouble to get into TV production. Besides, I am very quality conscious. I produced a serial with a film director and a karate champ in it, but it was so shoddy that I pulled out after six episodes.

What next after Jeans?
I hope to make a Tamil film, which will be directed by Agathian.