It was a much-anticipated film — for its subject and the strong technical team — and it didn’t disappoint. Kaaviya Thalaivan (KT), starring Siddharth and Prithviraj in lead roles, has chronicled the life and times of theatre artists of the past and struck a chord with audiences. The team tells Melange why it worked…

From the very beginning, I knew that Vadivambal, the character I play in the film, was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. It was a tough, intense role — very different from the routine apply-make-up-and-smile heroines in films — and I was up for it. I knew that as intense as she was, Vadivambal was also colourful.

The wonderful introduction scene that was given to me in this movie worked big-time with audiences. When I watched the movie in Chennai, audiences were actually clapping for that sequence…and that was overwhelming for me. KT happened because of the entire team’s burning desire to give quality output and that gives me encouragement to take on more challenging roles.

I’m going through a happy week now, reading the reviews and gauging the response to the film. Thanks to the entire star-cast and crew, we were able to bring out the perfect film — the project we had envisioned.

But it was not an easy task. I’d decided to make a film on theatre artists of the pas, with a complicated story on top of that…there was an ego clash, a love triangle. It was quite a challenge to weave comedy into that.

When A.R. Rahman sent me an email, saying ‘Kittappa is ready’, acknowledging that he was interested in this project, I was delighted. We worked in several sittings on tunes and songs as this was a musical, and the output shows.

The acceptance of KT as a product has been overwhelming. It has become a landmark film and will be a reference point for future movies.

As producers, Varun Manian and I were looking at a qualitative leap and KT was exactly that. It took us a long time — about two and a half years — and we’re glad with the response we’re getting. Being a period drama, we wished to transport audiences to a different place and time. For that, we had to travel to 250 locations and work on elaborate production designs.

SRINIVASA RAMANUJAM