Then, he came up with the first-ever Carnatic concert movie — the much-loved Margazhi Ragam. Meet Jayendra, who is now all set to helm his first feature film. 

“It’s almost like I’m reinventing myself every eight years,” begins Jayendra on why he decided to enter feature filmmaking after so many years, “From 1976-86, I was a writer, and then, I switched to ad filmmaking. I started my tech firm in 1993 and was balancing both ad filmmaking and my firm for eight to nine years. Then, ad filmmaking took a back seat. And, staying away from filmmaking (at the level that I used to make earlier) fanned the desire to go back to films and has brought films back into my life.” 

That led him to make Margazhi Ragam a year ago, showcasing Indian classical music in a unique way, reveals Jayendra. “But the need to do something much more than that was very strong and I began to work on my script. Though I had several scripts from the last 10-12 years (he says that he had a habit of working on scripts and keeping them aside telling himself that he’d use them when he starts making feature films), the desire to do something completely new made me opt for a new script,” he adds. 

And being in ad films for more than three decade makes a huge difference, believes Jayendra, who says that ad filmmaking hones one’s craft as a filmmaker. He explains, “Because of years of trying to tell a story in thirty seconds, there is a certain honing of one’s skill when it comes to narration of an idea.” 

Along with that, Jayendra adds, comes the compulsive desire to be concerned with even the minutest detail. “Coming from an ad film background, we believe in tremendous planning. We cannot live with uncertainties — we will need to see every little detail that we will be using, be it a slipper that a character will wear or a coffee mug that will be in the frame,” he says. 

Ask him about his film and Jayendra plays his cards close to his chest. “The film is contemporary. It will be an Indian mainstream film with songs and all the razzmatazz,” is all he reveals. And he is equally guarded about the details of his cast and crew. 

“Siddharth plays the male lead. There are two female leads — one will be played by Priya Anand and we are yet to finalise the other. I’m also looking at putting up a crew that will give me all its time. So, it might be a fairly young crew. The final picture, with regard to the cast and crew, will emerge in a couple of weeks,” he says. 

On the decision to cast Siddharth, Jayendra says that the young actor was one among the friends to whom he simply sent the script to get feedback. “He got back saying that he absolutely loved it and wanted to do it. I didn’t write the film with him in mind. But now, I may do my second film with him,” he signs off. 

More links:

Sathyam Cinemas’ next project

Sathyam ties up with Siddharth

The Real Picture