| Periyar |
| Actors:
Satyaraj, Khushboo, Jyotirmayi, Sathyanarayanan, LIC Narasimhan, Nizhlagal Ravi, SS Stanly, Chandrasekhar, Manorama, Arthi Kumar, George Pal, Lavanya |
| Direction:
Gnyanarajasekharan |
Producer:
Liberty Creations |
| Music:
Vidyasagar |
Cinematography:
Thangar Bachan |
| Editing:
Lenin |
Sets:
JK |
 After directing some classy films like ‘Mohamul’ and ‘Bharathi’, Gnyanarajasekharan is now into the life and times of the popular Dravidian leader and rationalist Periyar E V Ramasamy. And this fulfils the dream of actor Satyaraj too who had desired to portray the Dravidian leader on screen.
A stint of shooting for about 25 days took place at Karaikudi. Says the director, “It took one year for me to prepare my script, to collect data, materials and photos about the great leader. And another three years to write my script. And when visualised on screen, it would take me two hours and forty minutes to narrate it. My focus will be on how a man from a ordinary beginning rose to be such a charismatic leader. My effort is to put in those things less known to the people about
Periyar.”
As to why he took a known face to play Periyar, when he had chosen a less known face like Sayaji Shinde to play Bharathi, the director says that it was to reach the maximum number of people, which didn’t happen with
‘Bharathi’.
 Satyaraj depicts the character from age 25 to the age of 50. Says the actor, “To prepare myself for the role, I saw some of his video clippings and heard his voice on audio cassettes.”
Playing Periyar’s father is Telugu actor Satyanarayanan. There was a scene where the actor had to hit Satyaraj with a slipper. And when he hesitated, Satyaraj asked him to go ahead and do it realistically. And of course the seasoned actor brought realism to the shot by really hitting Satyaraj very hard!
While Jyotirmayi plays Periyar’s first wife Nagammaiy, Khushboo takes on the role of the leader's second wife Maniyammai. The cast includes LIC Narasimhan, Nizhlagal Ravi, SS Stanly (director), and Chandrasekhar, among others.
 Director Arthi Kumar, who had directed Satyaraj in ‘Sound Party’, plays Rajaji. Playing Gandhi is Malayalam stage actor George Pal. Manorama plays Periyar’s mother while his sister is played by
Lavanya.
While major portions have been shot in Karakudi, other locations include Kothamangalam and Kanadukathan. Plans are afoot to shoot in foreign places like Athens, Germany, London, Moscow, Malaysia and Thailand.
The film has cinematography by Thangar Bachan, sets designed by JK, editing by Lenin and music by Vidyasagar. The film is produced by Liberty Creations.
Malini Mannath
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