I always wanted to make a movie about Chennai floods: Lakshmy Ramakrishnan on ‘House Owner’


Lakshmy Ramakrishnan on using the Chennai floods as a backdrop for House Owner, which releases today, and the challenges of being an independent filmmaker

Lakshmy Ramakrishnan laughs at the prospect of making a ₹50 crore star vehicle involving big names. “I’ll probably make 50 films in that amount. Because, I’d rather invest everything that’s required for the script than anything else,” says Lakshmy. She’s right in a way, for the films she writes are about simple people and their simple lives.

Lakshmy is fascinated by real characters and her films are a testimony to that. For her, characters matter more than stories — the reason why she’s focussed on developing the characters first before the actual story. She likes to draw inspiration from real life incidents — it could be someone she chanced upon or an acquaintance — before finishing the final draft. “Sometimes, it just flows that I write scenes for 10 straight hours, without realising that it needs fine-tuning and rewriting. Usually, I finish the first draft in a day’s time,” she says, adding, “For Ammani, it was Vaalambal Paatti who inspired me to write. And forAarohanam, it was Nirmala.”

It’s a small world

But House Owner is where the reverse happened, when Lakshmy wanted to make a film with Chennai floods as the backdrop. She sheepishly admits that she intended to make a “commercial” film initially and started work back in 2016. The story suffered from the usual trappings of commercial cinema, with a hero and heroine realising the love for each other amidst Chennai floods. But she gave up on that script and closed that chapter. Something struck Lakshmy last year, urging her to revisit the draft, exploring a different aspect of the story. “It slowly evolved and gave birth to House Owner. It’s an unconventional love story and talks about the idea of love in today’s challenging times,” she says. While scripting House Owner, Lakshmy mulled about the whole concept of love and marriage. This was around the same time when she was hosting a popular reality show, when she met different people from various walks of life. “I was amazed by their understanding of love and marriage. The way we see the world is different from theirs,” she adds.

Lakshmy Ramakrishnan

Lakshmy Ramakrishnan
 
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Special Arrangement

Lakshmy discussed the idea of making House Owner with her husband and daughters, who said, “Are you sure you aren’t rushing, given the stakes involved?” She even consulted Resul Pookutty, M Ghibran and Sreekar Prasad, who advised that she get Mammootty on board. “Of course, big stars will get you the initial push and will guarantee you the return. But I was wary about it.” But this quality or rather confidence isn’t without any repercussions, she agrees. “I didn’t want to compromise on any level. When you think about the repercussions, you won’t make a movie,” she smiles.

The trailer seems to suggest that House Owner is about a young couple belonging to an upper caste. Given how Tamil cinema is becoming political these days, do filmmakers need to worry about social implications, especially when the subject of matter is caste? “People call out films only if they have a hidden agenda. I don’t. Mine is a harmless depiction of the times I grew up in Palakkad. If I’m making a film about it, I have the responsibility to keep it as authentic as possible,” she shrugs. Lakshmy insists that House Owner is not brahmanandam (read Titanic), considering that it’s a survival story. “The execution was quite challenging. We built a house inside a water tank, just to shoot the climax. For an independent film, everything is difficult, right from the logistics to marketing.”

Indie scene

    A distant dream

    Lakshmy Ramakrishnan has managed to extract powerful performances from her female characters in the past. Could it also be because it’s coming from a woman?

    She disagrees, saying, “I don’t take an effort to portray women strongly. It happens organically, because these are real people. In that sense, I’ve written some good men characters too,” she laughs.

    Lakshmi has been championing for women’s rights and gender equality, in her own little way. From a filmmaker’s perspective, she feels that the characters that are being written for women are pathetic, and says that she can’t think of one memorable character in recent times. She also admits that the fault is partly due to the lack of female writers available in Tamil cinema, as opposed to an industry like Bollywood.

    “I watched a movie recently in which the female actor was portrayed like an exhibit. Isn’t it demeaning for a woman? When you think of it, you wonder if this is going to change any time soon.”

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