When the novel was first published, it was a huge hit with the readers. Naturally, expectations are high.

More so as the director is award-winning director Gandhi Krishna [see inset]. He won a National Award for Nilakalam, a film based on Sujatha's novel 'Andru un arukil'.

Ananda Thandavam stars current hot actress Tamannah and Siddharth, a debutant in the lead roles.

As the film releases this Friday, Gandhi Krishna talks about how it call came about.

Your film Ananda Thandavam is based on the late writer Sujatha's famous novel 'Pirivom Sandippom'. Did you get a chance to tell Sujatha that you wanted to make a film based on it?

Actually, this was supposed to be my first film. Unfortunately, it became my third one. I was attracted to the novel when I was just a student. I found the two protagonists, Raghu and Madhu, quite interesting. While the boy is adamant and hot headed, the girl is innocent and obedient. The novel is about these two contrasting characters falling in love.

I met Sujatha for the first time when he wrote the dialogues for Shankar's Indian. I was an assistant to Shankar then. When I told him I wanted to make a film based on his novel 'Pirivom Sandippom', he didn't say anything. He hesitated.

Why was that?

Because he was not happy with how filmmakers interpreted his characters in films.

Then, I started a film called Engineer with Madhuri Dixit and Arvind Swamy but the film was shelved half way through.

Then, I made Nila Kaalam based on Sujatha's another novel titled 'Andru un arukil'. It was an offbeat film and won the national award for the best Tamil film that year. Sujatha was happy with me.

Text: Shobha Warrier

Listen to: Dard-E-Disco
Also Read: Remembering Sujatha

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