'Ghost' director Srini deconstructs the craze for southern cinema

Director M.G Srinivas, professionally known as Srini, has just released his grand heist-action-thriller film 'Ghost' on the big screen and it has gotten much appreciation.

The power-packed film which boasts a star studded cast consisting of Shivarajkumar, Anupam Kher, Jayaram, Prashant Narayan and Archana Jois is part of a three-part movie trilogy called the ‘Birbal’ trilogy, which is the lead up to an entire cinematic universe.

Speaking exclusively to IANS, director-actor Srini spoke about both ‘Ghost’, the ‘Birbal’ trilogy as well as elaborated on why Bollywood has begun to adapt Southern Indian elements into their films.

Talking about how he came up with the story for ‘Ghost’, he said: “ ‘Ghost’ actually is based on a real incident. There was an incident that happened back in Chennai regarding a CBI raid, it was in the papers. So I remember studying it and it quite fascinated me. So one thing led to another, and as I was forming my story there was a spark which led me to make the film, adding in action and all the standard elements. So it became a heist-action-thriller.”

Detailing his experience of working with the veteran Kannada actor Shivarajkumar, Srini said: “Oh it was a great experience. I have known him for many years and have worked with him before.

“He just makes you very comfortable. When you are working with him, you honestly forget that you are working with such a legendary actor. I mean he just makes you that comfortable because he is such a humble and down-to-earth person.”

Elaborating on the film’s production and music, Srini added: “There are not that many stunts in ‘Ghost’ but for those that are there, Shivanna insisted that he do them on his own. So we had stunt people to help him choreograph, but all the stunts you see on-screen he did them on his own.”

The director said: “Then with regards to music, I think Arjun Janya has done a fabulous job. For the music he had to go beyond just the mainstream stuff. Here, his music had to be different from what he normally does and he knew it. So he experimented a lot with different stuff and he did it very well, it actually was his first time making this kind of music.”

Describing how his ‘Birbal’ trilogy came to be, he said: “I had formulated the idea a while back. So it was already planned from my side, it wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment decision to make it into a trilogy. I mean true, there were many changes in the end product, but I always wanted to make it a trilogy. Action, crime, thriller, heist, maybe more. The Birbal’ trilogy is something I had planned on for a while.”

The director went on to further explain his desire for experimenting with heist, as well as explore other genres.

Detailing this, he said: “Yes, I absolutely plan to explore the heist genre further. I mean we have ‘Ghost’ here, and before that there is ‘Birbal’ which is a crime-thriller. So it all forms a pattern.

“I never want to remain static, there is always room to grow and experiment further. Whether your experimentation succeeds or not is something else, but if I were to keep doing just one genre and even if it became like a mega-blockbuster thing, I wouldn’t do it," he added.

Srini went on to speak of the traction that Southern India cinema has gotten in the Hindi belt for the last few years, and how Bollywood is now changing its own style because of it.  

He said: “Firstly, it all has to do with the screens. Early on screens were available in maybe like a few hundreds, maybe thousand. Most of them would be taken by Hindi cinema, and the regional films would have little to no exposure in the North.

Srini continued, "There was no social media at that time and the internet at that time wasn’t what it is today. Things changed as the screenings increased. Certain regional films would become blockbusters when they went to the North, and then via word of mouth they would be aired on television. People would watch dubbed versions on TV which gave the regional scene more mainstream exposure. And now, we have OTT where everything is available to watch.”

He shared: “As for Bollywood adapting Southern elements. it isn’t just incorporating them. Hindi cinema has changed its perspective over the years and is now catering to a different audience.

Srini further mentioned, "Then they are actively collaborating with the South, much like the South is also having so many Hindi actors. Best example is ‘Jawan’, which had SRK in it. But it also had Atlee, Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara, Anirudh, so being a collaboration, it became pan-Indian."

Srini is next slated to direct and act in his upcoming sequel to ‘Birbal Pt1’ titled ‘Birbal Case 2’.

In addition, he will also act in another film titled ‘Andalamma’. Both the movies are geared for a 2024 release date and are currently in the midst of filming.