Vanmam marks the directorial debut of Jai Krishna. Starring Vijay Sethupathi, Kreshna and Sunaina in the lead, the movie is produced by Nemichand Jabak.
Speaking to us, Jai Krishna recalled the early days when he arrived in Chennai with dreams of making it big in Tamil cinema. A native of Nagercoil, he came to the city two decades ago and found it hard to get the kind of work he wanted to do. “I was doing odd jobs for a while,” he told us. Offers began trickling in slowly, but Jai Krishna didn’t mind waiting back then. “You have to play the waiting game a lot in the Tamil film industry,” he explained sagely, “else you will find yourself on a path vastly different from the one you wanted to take. Only the most patient succeed in this field.”
Jai Krishna has been quite patient, indeed. He makes his directorial debut at the age of 50, almost twenty years after he came to Chennai. “I envisioned my life differently,” he shrugged, “When I was young, I thought I would have finished half a dozen films by this time. That hasn’t been the case, but I have the experience of working in more than ten films. That is something better, I suppose!”
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But it is all the more sweeter for Jai Krishna now, for he has a dream cast, with the likes of Vijay Sethupathi, Krishna and Sunaina (who plays a key role) in the movie. He even got Nemichand Jhabak to produce the flick. “I was very thrilled when they agreed to produce. I was also happy when Vijay Sethupathi and Kreshna showed so much love and confidence in my script. They worked hard and made sure that my dream project turned out exactly as I had envisioned.”
Also a plus was the fact that he got to shoot the film in Nagercoil, his hometown. “The story is close to my heart and to film it in places I have lived in was an exhilarating experience. I stayed true to my roots and that has given me great joy.”
Vanmam – censored with a U/A certificate – is scheduled to release on November 21.