Actor Shanthnu on ‘Raavana Kottam’ and turning over a new leaf in cinema
(Originally published in The Hindu on May 03, 2023)
It has been 15 years since Tamil actor Shanthnu made his debut as a lead in Sakkarakatti and 25 years since his big screen debut as a child artist in his actor-filmmaker father Bhagyaraj’s Vettiya Madichu Kattu. He did find it easier to enter the film industry, but the actor’s career in cinema has been anything but easy. Shanthnu has been fighting many battles off the screen to stay afloat on the screen, and this was the case with his upcoming film Raavana Kottam, in which he was pushed to despair due to financial issues. “I learnt a lot about how people change and behave when money comes into the picture,” he notes.
Raavana Kottam, which releases on May 12, is Madha Yaanai Koottam director Vikram Sugumaran’s second film. Shanthnu says that he wanted to submit himself to a creator like Vikram, who could bring a rural man out of a city-born such as himself. “It did demand a lot. He wanted me to wear a lungi often because someone who doesn’t wear a lungi or veshti often will look uncomfortable while walking. Similarly, people in Ramanthapuram are used to the sun, so even when they stand under the scorching heat, they won’t have a frown on their faces. I had to stand in the sun to get used to it as well,” he says.
It’s clear from the raw and rustic trailer that Raavana Kottam touches upon a sensitive social issue that has been a subject of discussion in Tamil Nadu for decades: Prosopis juliflora (Seema Karuvelam), the infamous invasive weed that damages the environment and inhibits the growth of indigenous plants. But don’t mistake it as a social drama. “It’s an action film; the story also takes inspiration from a real-life incident that happened in 1957 when five innocent people were killed due to caste politics.” The film speaks of…
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