'Va Quarter Cutting is about Chennai at night'

The husband-wife team of Pushkar and Gayatri's first film was Oram Po, the story of the auto drivers of Chennai and the drag races that took place on the highways outside the city in the early hours of the morning.

Now, they are back with their new Tamil film Va- Quarter Cutting starring Siva of Thamizh Padam fame, SPB Charan and Lekha Washington.

In this interview, Pushkar talks about their new venture

The title of the film Va Quarter Cutting is quite intriguing. What does it mean?

Like there are letters for various fractions, Va stands for in Tamil. Quarter Cutting is the tag line, that is half of a quarter bottle of alcohol.

Is the film about alcoholism then?

No, no... the film is not about alcoholism. It is a Chennai-based film, about its people. And the expression, Va Quarter Cutting is a common expression here.

Your Oram Po also was a Chennai-based film about auto racing at night. What was the inspiration here?

We are born and brought up here. So, Chennai is a part of our lives and it will be in our films too.

The film is about what happens one night in Chennai. People say Chennai is dead at night but it is not; a lot of things happen at night here. That is what we show in the film.

You got the idea to make Oram Po when you travelled at night in an auto. So, do you have any affinity to nights?

[Laughs] It is just that the roads are much more free to shoot at night!  Also, Chennai has a different colour at night, quite different from the day. Chennai at night is not the traditional Chennai everybody knows.

Who are the main characters in Va Quarter Cutting?

The lead character is Sura played by Siva. He is a guy from some other town. He comes to Chennai to catch the next day's flight to Saudi Arabia to work. He has one night and decides to explore the city. He is forced to spend time with Marthandan (played by SPB Charan). Saro aka Saraswathi (Lekha Washington) is a girl they meet at night. She is a girl who has failed three times in her 12th standard exam and hence is feeling suicidal.

But make no mistake, the film is not dark at all. We are looking at the characters and the situations they are in, in a light hearted manner. We are very tongue and cheek about all the characters.

Are you looking at Chennai through these characters?

Yes. It is the Chennai you see through the eyes of these characters. Siva's character is an outsider to Chennai while Marthandan is settled in Chennai for a very long time.

Did you sign Siva because of Thamizh Padam?

Actually we signed Siva before Thamizh Padam was released. It so happened that our producers are the producers of Thamizh Padam as well.

What made you think of Lekha Washington?

She is a good friend of ours and when we wrote the character itself, we had only her in mind. We wanted someone with an air of vulnerability who could act as well.

How was it working with your friend as the heroine?

She's not the only one. All of those who work with us are our friends. There's Charan and Siva, Nirav Shah the cinematographer and the music director. Since we all know each other for so long, it doesn't take too much effort to communicate.

But one of your friends is not there in the film...

You mean Arya? Siva suited the role better than Arya for this film. We will be working with Arya very soon.

Last time when we met, I asked you about the way you and Gayatri demarcate your work, and you said you work in tandem. Is it still the same?

Yes, it is still the same. We don't have to demarcate any work. We work in tandem. While writing the script, we do it together, by bouncing ideas and writing. It is very organised that way.

Will you be making only light hearted films?

I think that is our forte. Everybody seems to be making serious films!

The film is slated for Diwali. Is the feeling any different the second time?

No. We feel the same amount of tension now also. With Y Not Studios as producers and Dhayanidhi Azhagiri's Cloud Nine Movies as distributors, we are assured of a good release. That way, the tension is off us.

With Cloud Nine Movies distributing your film, it has become a hot property. How did they pick your film?

It is through Y Not Studios that they picked our film for distribution. Y Not Studios and Cloud Nine Movies together made Thamizh Padam. So, it was a natural progression that they release our film too.

It took a long time for your second film to release. Will there be such a huge gap again?

We have a couple more ideas, and we will start working on them soon after the release of this.