Mari Selvaraj, who made his directorial debut with Pariyerum Perumal, said the huge victory was in the movie finding a place in the prestigious Goa International Film Festival.
"Once a movie is in Goa, it gets noticed and slowly finds its place in other festivals. Though that was not the motive while helming, it certainly is a morale booster for any aspiring filmmaker like me."
Before its release, the movie had made clear its unconventional undercurrents through posters; some of which featured only dogs.
“
Pariyerum Perumal speaks about caste politics which isn’t confined to Tamil Nadu alone. The movie reflects the pain of the Indian society as a whole. Being viewed by a larger Indian audience at a film festival means it reaches out to those many more people which makes me glad. Caste and caste politics are century old in Nellai and it needed a clear vision to spell out in simple ways and not in a deviating mode."
When asked whether the selection of his movie indicated that people have started looking at religion and caste critically, Selvaraj says, “
Yes, I think the common people have begun to look at things like religion and caste in depth. They’ve come to realize that these are topics that need to handled carefully. I think the creators have also come to realize this fact and are making movies based on these topics. I think we will be seeing more movies dealing with these topics in the future.”
[International Film Festival of India - Goa - Event covered by Behindwoods' accredited Senior freelance writer KV Vasudevan]