Vetrimaaran

Vetrimaaran is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who primarily works in Tamil cinema.

As of 2021, he has won five National Film Awards, eight Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards and two Filmfare South Awards.

Vetrimaaran was born in Cuddalore in 1975.

His father Dr. V. Chitravel was a veterinary scientist and his mother Megala Chitravel is a noted novelist.

He has an elder sister.

He later moved to Ranipet.

He is married to Aarthi whom he met at Loyola College where he was studying.

They have two children, Poonthendral and Kathiravan.

While studying English literature at Loyola College, he undertook a course on television presentation at the end of which he had to make a film.

While making the film, he learned of his inclination towards filmmaking.

Later, he attended a seminar organised by Balu Mahendra, who at that time was a visiting professor at Loyola.

Impressed by the veteran filmmaker Vetrimaaran decided that he'd learn filmmaking from him.

Balu Mahendra then accepted him as one of his lead assistants.

Following that he faced the dilemma of choosing between studies and Film.

He opted for the latter which meant he had to opt out-of his course at Loyola.

Balu Mahendra expanded his duties for the Tamil serial Kathai Neram (2000) and the Tamil films En Iniya Ponnilave (2001), Julie Ganapathy (2003), and Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam (2005).

He has since credited Balu Mahendra as his mentor and the one who encouraged to follow his dream of becoming a director.

He also acted in a brief role as Richard Rishi's assistant in Kadhir's Kadhal Virus (2002).

It was during the making of his mentor's Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam where Vetrimaaran became acquainted with the lead actor of the film, Dhanush.

He prepared a script for Dhanush who immediately accepted the offer after hearing the story.

After he found trouble finding producers with A. M. Rathnam and Salem Chandrasekhar leaving the project after initial interest, Dhanush's sister Dr. Vimala Geetha agreed to produce the film, but she also dropped the film.

Dhanush's father Kasthuri Raja finally agreed to produce the film.

However, after two days of shoot, the film was shelved, and Dhanush opted to pursue other films after the surprise success of his Thiruvilayadal Arambam.

Vetrimaaran made his directorial debut with the Polladhavan (2007).

The film's collapse saw Vetrimaaran approach producer Kadiresan and narrated to him the stories he had prepared, but the producer did not like Desiya Nedunchaalai 47, but agreed to work on another project titled Polladhavan (2007).

Vetrimaaran has since described that he had "ample time" for the production works of Polladhavan as "Dhanush had confidence in him".

The film's story was inspired partly by the lost bike of his friend Andrew and the variety of experiences he had tracking down his vehicle.

Vetrimaaran revealed that when he wrote the script, he made many changes to suit the visual medium and for Dhanush on his physical attributes while playing an action hero.

The film opened in November 2007 to rave reviews, with the critic from Sify stating that "Vetri has made his mentor proud, and his style of narration and takings are very similar to the ace director Balu Mahendra, labelling that the film had shades of Vittorio De Sica's 1948 Italian film, Bicycle Thieves. When questioned about its relevance to Bicycle Thieves, he stated that it "is a disgrace to Bicycle Thieves if it is compared with Polladhavan".

His second feature film Aadukalam (2011) won six National Film Awards.

He produces films under his production company, Grass Root Film Company.

Following the success of Polladhavan, the entire team of that film: Vetrimaaran, Dhanush, Kishore, producer S. Kathiresan, and G. V. Prakash Kumar collaborated once again for Aadukalam (2011), which deals with the rivalry between cock-fighters in Madurai.

During Pre-production and scripting, Vetrimaaran spent a period of two years in Madurai to understand the local dialect and lifestyle of the people living there.

Aadukalam was the first film of Vetrimaaran to have a production office set up outside of Chennai.

Vetrimaaran took a year to complete the screenplay, script, and dialogues for Aadukalam and held a bounded script for the venture, which is considered rare in Tamil films.

Vetrimaaran narrated only half of the film's script to Dhanush before the latter was impressed with it and agreed to act in the film.

The film was initially titled Seval, but since the rights to the title were already taken by director Hari for his project with Bharath, Vetrimaaran decided to rename his film as Aadukalam.

His 2016 directorial Visaranai was selected as India's official entry to the Academy Awards.

His film Asuran (2019) received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.

He is also the founder of International Institute of Film and Culture (IIFC).