In his first interview on his follow-up to his 2023 crime thriller Por Thozhil , Kara , Vignesh Raja opens up about the morally grey, ’90s-set suspense thriller, working with Dhanush across chaotic schedules, casting against type, and the creative pressure that followed his debut film’s success. Excerpts:
After Por Thozhil , expectations around your next project were clearly high. Did that affect you while making this film?
Honestly, it did. For four or five months after Por Thozhil released, people kept asking me, ‘How will you make something better than this?’ or ‘Can you match this quality every time?’ That really weighed on me and slowed down my writing process. It was a difficult phase. Eventually, I reminded myself why Por Thozhil worked — because I stuck to the process without worrying about the result. Once I found that clarity again, I decided to silence the noise and focus on getting each day of work right. That’s how we made this film.
Dhanush sir has been very supportive and collaborative. He often gives suggestions, but he also tells me, “You don’t have to take every suggestion. Make the film you want.” That kind of freedom made the entire process very smooth.
The teaser of Kara gives quite an intense vibe…
It’s an emotionally rooted suspense thriller. The story is set in the early ’90s in Ramanathapuram. We’ve titled the film Kara after the protagonist, Karasami. The protagonist’s character exists in a grey space, and people in the film keep calling him ‘ Kara ’. At its core, it’s the journey of this man — a story about guilt, redemption and the many ways to interpret what the word ‘ Kara ’ stands for. It can mean many things… stain, shore or the deity. By the end of the film, that meaning becomes clear.
There are questions of morality — not just for him, but for several characters. Sooraj Venjaramoodu, Jayaram sir, Karunaas sir, KS Ravikumar sir and Mamita Baiju are all playing important roles. Most of them exist in that morally ambiguous space. In that sense, the film also works as a psychological study, but it’s wrapped within the genre of a suspense thriller.
What sparked the idea for the film?
It came from two unrelated newspaper articles I read six months apart. The first struck me as a funny story. When I read the second a few months later, my perspective changed. I wondered, ‘What if these two ideas were combined?’ That’s where the seed for the film came from. It’s not based on true events, but some things that happen in the film have happened in real life.
Was this role written specifically for Dhanush?
After Por Thozhil , I got a call from Dhanush sir expressing his interest in working together. At that point, I only had a very basic idea. I wanted to develop it organically and narrate it as a full script, not just as a one-liner.
Even while developing it, I felt he’d be perfect because it’s a very difficult character — a lot is happening internally, and he has to convey that without making the character too grey or unlikeable. We had many discussions about striking that balance to make sure the audience still roots for him. Exploring that with an actor of his calibre was a great experience for me. Dhanush was directing and acting in other projects at the same time while shooting for this film.
What was that like on set?
It was quite crazy. There was a day when Idli Kadai and Kara were both being shot in the same village in Ramanathapuram. He would direct a shot there and then come here to act in one of ours. He even had an editing setup in his caravan. In between, he had to dub for Tere Ishk Mein , and two of his films were releasing during our shoot, so he had to travel for promotions. In the morning he’d be in Bombay, and that same night, he’d be shooting in Ramanathapuram. We were racing against time because we wanted to finish before the monsoons.
Mamita Baiju is known for her bubbly image. What can we expect from her in this film?
We’ve cast her against type. Full credit to her for being bold enough to break that mould and take on something like this. She’s done a fantastic job, and I think she’s an amazing actress who is going to go places. Not just Mamita, most of the primary characters have been cast against type. We’ve also worked extensively on makeup and subtle prosthetics, which is why we haven’t revealed much yet. We plan to introduce each character gradually, giving each their due.
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