Interview: Director Raju of Tamil film Cuckoo

Published in The Hindu Cinema Plus

The call of the kuyil - 'cuc-k-o-o' - has a melody that is so symbolic of the lyrical magic of love. It has a touch of symphony that brings out the tender emotions of togetherness and belonging - that of true love. Such pure love, according to director Raju Murugan, knows no colour or smell. It is all about touch, feel and imagination. For, how else do Thamizh and Swatantrakodi, two visually challenged people fall in love in his tender love story, which he has aptly titled Cuckoo?

"The film is a musical love story between the two who do not allow their handicap to come in the way of their affection for each other. Their visual impairment is not an encumbrance in their life. She is a very confident girl who does not expect any sympathy and he is very humorous and full of life," says Raju. Dinesh (Attakathi) plays Tamizh, an uneducated youth while Malavika Nair (Malayalam film Black Butterfly) plays Swatantrakodi, a college student studying for a teacher's degree. Both the characters are from economically backward communities.

The inspiration for the story of Cuckoo came to Raju Murugan during his days as a journalist with Anandaviketan. "In the course of my work I used to come across scores of interesting people. One such person, was a blind man on whom the character in Cuckoo is based. He used to narrate to me his life, his experiences and the love for his girlfriend who was also visually challenged. For years, this idea has been germinating within me and later, during my three years of assisting director Lingusamy, I had extensively worked on the story. To a large extent it is a true story as it is based on the life of the couple who were so much in love, despite their handicap. But, for cinema, certain liberties have been taken to make it more appealing to the audience," informs Raju.

Initially, Raju had actually presented it to director Shankar who saw a great promise in the script, but was already tied up with Ai to take it up as a project for his S Pictures. "On his suggestion and with a little help from a couple of friends from the television industry, I got the opportunity to present it to The Next Big Film Productions and Fox Star Studios who gave me the go ahead immediately," says Raju.

Raju didn't want big names for his lead roles, but someone who had a bit of experience as well as the talent to grasp the nuances of acting as blind people. "We had a two month workshop when the actors were made to interact with the original couple who were the inspiration for my story. Both Dinesh and Malavika quickly learned the way the blind people move, interact and go about their daily chores. There is another visually challenged couple, Elango and Nandini who act as friends of Thamizh and Swatantrakodi. So when we started shooting, it was quite a breeze for all concerned. More important was to get a cinematographer who understood the need to neither downplay nor glorify the blindness factor. In P. K. Varma I found the right person with the temperament to understand the script. This is his next big one after Attakathi. He has achieved a perfect balance of visual beauty that is so important to the screenplay. Being a musical love story needed the right type of songs which Santosh Narayanan has brought out in his inimitable style," states Raju Murugan who is eagerly awaiting the release of Cuckoo on March 21.