Director Sasikumar will not dilute his film in order to get a ‘U’ certificate. Talking to ToI, he said, “Even with Kutti Puli, we refused to tone down the violence to get the ‘U’ certificate, and settled for ‘UA’. Thaarai Thappattai was ‘A’. For me, the film has to stay true to its genre.”
Films with U certificates are exempt from paying entertainment tax. Sasikumar, though, prefers not to cull violent scenes from his film for tax exemption. He said, “I think this dilemma wouldn’t be there if all the films are taxed. Certification impacts your business but I will not try to get tax exemption at the cost of my film.”
His recent films have had a lot of violent scenes. “There is violence around me, and I can’t do anything about it. We see it daily in our news. Through all my films, I’m trying to tell my audience not to take up violence. Some choose to convey this message in a soft manner, but I scare my audience into realising how violence can destroy one’s life,” he justifies.
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Sasikumar’s Kidaari will see him sharing screen space with writers Vela Ramamurthy, Mu Ramaswamy and Vasumithra. “Its core is something that I have wanted to make as a film. So, I was impressed that director Prasath Murugesan had chosen something that I had in mind and had spun a story out of it,” he said.
In Kidaari, he is just one of the many characters who propel the story forward. “Every character in the film drives the plot in one way or the other”.
Kidaari is scheduled to release in September. The film marks the composing debut of Darbuka Siva, and will have cinematography by SR Kathir.