Recently, director Mohan Raja has been the talk of the town for one important reason. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to light candles, diyas and show flashlights during April 5 and 9 PM for nine minutes was first shown in Raja’s 2017 directorial Velaikkaran, where the film’s climax shows a bright city with torch-wielding citizens as a show of support to the hero Arivu, played by Sivakarthikeyan.
Mohan Raja said that the announcement felt like a validation to his idea in the film, “When you make a socially conscious film, there is some amount of responsibility attached to it. We can’t say any wrong ideas, but at the same time, one has to execute the idea in a convincing manner. Filmmakers struggle to maintain the balance. As an artiste, I feel happy that an idea that was intended to spread positivity has been accepted by all.”
Raja believes that unity amongst the people is a key factor to solve societal problems. Another interesting fact was that the climax was the starting point of Velaikkaran's conception, “Ahead of finding the solution, the most important thing right now is to reinforce the idea of unity, that we are there for each other.”
Raja had also received calls from his colleagues post the announcement, “Our co-writer Subha called me and asked me whether I was in Delhi. Some people asked me whether I was there with the PM.”