Happy that regional cinema is going places but early days yet: Selvaraghavan

Celebrated director Selvaraghavan donning the greasepaint has become a major talking point of 'Saani Kaayidham' which is set for release on May 6 on Prime Video.

The director of several hit Tamil movies shares screen space with Keerthy Suresh in this gritty and raw movie. Technically it is his debut movie because he had signed it first. He has however made his screen debut with the recent Vijay-starrer 'Beast'.

Speaking about his journey as an actor, Selvarghavan says it was not pre-planned in any way. "Whatever I do in life, I love and enjoy. This thing happened just like that. I didn't know that Arun Matheswaran the director had written this role keeping me in mind. Nothing was planned. We just met and things happened. Same thing happened with 'Beast', Nelson the director thought I would be a better choice for the movie."

Known for directing several popular south Indian movies like 'Pudhupettai', '7G Rainbow Colony', 'Mayakkam Enna' amongst others, writer and director Selvaraghavan will be seen portraying the character of Sangaiah in 'Saani Kaayidham'.

On switching hats from direction to acting, Selvarghavan confides that he follows his philosophy as a director. "I always tell my actors to come with a blank mind to my sets because when it's a blank slate, it's easy to paint a picture on it. That is what I also followed as an actor. I just want to go and portray what the director has in mind."

While expressing happiness over the success of south Indian movies on the pan-India stage, Selvarghavan feels it would be prudent to wait and see how things develop.

"We should all be very happy about it but also you should remember just these two films happened. We have to wait and see how it's going to be. But right now Im very happy that regional cinema is going places," he observed.

Produced under the banner of Screen Scene Media, 'Saani Kaayidham' will premiere worldwide exclusively on Prime Video on May 6. The film will be available in Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu (titled 'Chinni').