Content key to debutant director's success: Madhan Kumar

Chennai: Tamil director Madhan Kumar, who is making directorial debut with forthcoming Tamil comedy-thriller 'Yaaruda Mahesh', says success of a debut director depends on the content of his or her film.

'Yaaruda Mahesh' features Sundeep Kishan, Dimple Chopda and Jagan in the lead.

"The film is about the search for an unknown character called Mahesh. Who is Mahesh and why the hero is in search of him forms the crux of the plot," Madhan told IANS.

"Most recent Tamil films made by debutant directors clicked because of the creative content, but not because of which actor played the lead. In fact, some of these recent Tamil films had all new cast, yet they were successful because of quality content," he added.

Gone are the days when films were exclusively made for star actors, he said and added: "Even though such films exist today, we have been seeing how they perform at the box-office."

Explaining with examples, Madhan said: "Films such as 'Pizza', 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom' (NKPK), and 'Attakathi' were all made by debutants, and they were all highly successful. Most importantly, none of these films had any star actor."

Madhan, however, admits some time content-rich films fall flat at the box office.

"It's important to adapt to the changing style of filmmaking. Even films with good content fail at times because of several reasons. One of the most common reasons is the lack of innovation in presentation," he said.

"Always remember that audiences come for entertainment, therefore, they need to be entertained. A film with good content should entertain the viewers as well, only then it can survive at the box-office. Take NKPK for instance, a simple story about friendship with a dose of humour went on to be highly successful," he added.

Madhan said he followed the same formula for his film too.

'Yaaruda Mahesh' is produced by Satya, Nawaz and Anthony, close friends of Madhan, under the banner Red Studios.

Releasing Friday, the film's cast also includes Srinath, Uma Padmanabhan, Swaminathan, Singamuthu and Sana Oberoi.