From hard training sessions to prepare for realistic boxing scenes to the difficulty of accurately capturing the atmosphere of 1970s Madras, the director and performer had to guarantee that no detail was overlooked.
In an already crowded boxing film market, especially on a global scale, it might be fairly difficult for a filmmaker to provide a fresh perspective to this arena. And when a film is set in the socially divided 1970s Madras, as Sarpatta Parambarai is, you know it won’t be about a pair of ripped men tussling in the ring with close-ups of their abdominal muscles.
“Boxing is only one component of the picture,” adds Arya, who portrays Kabilan in Sarpatta Parambai. “The entire sociopolitical climate of 1970s Madras is what sets this picture apart from other boxing movies. There is clan politics, inter-caste rivalry, and of course the colonial issue of social prestige. Everything was extremely educational and moving.”
In the 2009 National-award-winning film Naan Kadavul, directed by Bala, Arya famously portrayed a disgruntled and troubled Naga sadhu. Arya attributes the character of Kabilan in Sarpatta Parambarai with helping him grow not only as an actor but also as a person, despite the fact that it was critically lauded and provided him with numerous possibilities. But for him, stealing the picture was a tale in and of itself.
“I had to practically pursue Ranjith for this picture, as I was dabbling in boxing at the same time he was developing a boxing film. Karthi, not Arya, was the director of Kabali’s Amazon film’s first option, according to Arya. “He kept urging me to wait, but as soon as he read the script, I told him to start filming immediately,” Arya explains.
Writer-director Ranjith, whose earlier films include the 2014 vengeance drama Madras and the 2018 Rajnikanth vehicle Kaala, has carved out his own distinctive style of politically sensitive, highly entertaining cinema. His affiliation with a variety of Dalit organisations and issues serves to reinforce his commitment to the same.
Ranjith asserts, “In films about Dalit issues, the people are portrayed as oppressed and exploited.” “Arthouse films depict Dalits as individuals in need of pity and sympathy. In my mind, I’ve always wanted to make films about their lives. Not only their battle and revolution, but also their way of life, habits, and rituals. I intend to dismantle these tired cinematic clichés. Even Dalit lives are filled with celebration and peace.
The director refuses to characterise Sarpatta Parambarai as merely an action-packed picture on caste politics. “It is a film about empowerment in which caste is merely one of the impediments. Class is a central concept in the film. Disorder, drunkenness, and poverty are issues plaguing developing cities like Chennai. All of these factors have a profound effect on people. In the 1970s, caste was not prominent in Chennai, although everyone was aware of the simmering tensions. Consequently, this became the setting for my picture.”
Arya believes that Ranjith’s decision to employ boxing as a narrative device was really sophisticated and deliberate. “Boxing is an intimate, high-contact sport. It is also, above all things, extremely emotional. The emotions it evokes in you are absolutely different,” he explains.
The film highlights a significant comparison between the English and Indian styles of boxing. Post-colonial fragmentation of the Madras boxing scene into several clans is depicted in the trailer. And how this led to the infiltration of rivalries and the dilution of the local fishing community’s customs. For Arya’s training sessions, the same considerations had to be taken into account.
The Kaappaan actor asserts that boxing consists mostly of six up-and-down blows. “There are obviously some shifts in attitude and behaviour, but that’s about it. Due to the period in which Sarpatta is situated, our training could not be overly extravagant. Due to the fact that the film focuses on boxers from the local fishing community, we have trained using fishing hammers and rods. The subtle difference in these small details contributes much to the film’s believability.”
What’s next for the actor after a part as taxing and maybe career-defining as Kabilan in Sarpatta Parambarai? “A police drama,” he responds immediately. I won’t go out of my way to find a cop drama, but I’d like to do one that stands out in a genre that is already oversaturated.
What if Rohit Shetty calls him after this for a police drama? “There would be nothing comparable,” he chuckles.