R Parthiban's journey as an actor, director, and producer of Iravin Nizhal has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. From budgets doubling and tripling every other day to shooting the film 20-odd times, he says he has managed to fight through multiple challenges to make this film. Touted to be the world's first non-linear single-shot film, Iravin Nizhal is slated to hit the theatres on July 15, and will be released with a 30-minute making video.
When I said cut and everything was over, I could feel the life in my body. I could hear my heartbeat.
In this conversation with Vishal Menon, R Parthiban says his days in drama and theatre and 34 years in cinema have come in handy to shoot this film. "While shooting, I was mostly behind the camera and would be running and changing my get-ups for the next shot. I didn't rehearse or by heart my dialogues, thanks to my years of practice in theatre. It was more important to look at other artists than to rehearse my own character," the actor-director says. He adds that since he is also a dubbing artist, he was aware that if something is missed, he can always make it up during the dubbing and this made him feel at ease.
The award-winning filmmaker opens up about how it wasn't easy to make Iravin Nizhal, especially with financial constraints. "There is no money, so, even if I have to go for one more take, I have to get finance from somebody. After 32 years I bought land for my daughter and saved money to build a house. But at one point, I had to take that money to film the next shot. Similarly, I took all the money to finish this film," he says. However, calling the final cut, the most important cut in his life, after several extended days of shoot, expenses, and multiple cuts, was an ecstatic feeling, he recalls. "When I said cut and everything was over, I could feel the life in my body. I could hear my heartbeat," says the director.
Taking a look back at the final version of Iravin Nizhal, he says that an artist will never be satisfied and that some things in the film still bother him. "I am planning to do this film with some other artists in Hindi like Ajay Devgn, for which the talks are going on," hints the director, adding, "When that happens, I will get more budget and we can take more takes and less stress." He also wants to add a fight scene in the Hindi version.