Exclusive: Actor Suriya on 'Pasanga 2' and how tough it is to bring up kids in today's world

Actor Suriya is known for his large-scale commercial films. But with director Pandiraj's Pasanga 2 we will see the Kollywood star in a new avatar. The star's production house, 2D Entertainment, has also produced this movie that revolves around children. In an exclusive chat with dna, Suriya talks about the film and opens up about his personal experience of bringing up kids.

Tell us about the experience of working on Pasanga 2.

We started our production house 2D Entertainment – for movies that either I should produce or be a part of, and not go by what people put in my mind but do what my heart says. Pasanga 2 was the first film I wanted to start 2D with, but because of various reasons the project got a little delayed. In between, we produced 36 Vayadhinile thanks to Roshan (director Roshan Andrews) which was a wonderful comeback for Jo (his wife actress Jyothika).

Pasanga 2 was the second film from our production house. We had gone through some 60 to 70 scripts, but things were not clicking. Then Pandiraj said he had a kids’ film and wanted to do it with us. We were surprised because he has previously done Pasanga and won National Awards too. But it was still a challenging project for him and after his narration, he asked me to play Thamizh Naadan’s role. I agreed because I thought when else will I start doing films that are not large, commercial entertainers but in another space... that have a good concept and substance. Working in a film where kids take centrestage and being part of a project like this was very interesting for me. 

The whole team of Pasanga 2 was a small unit, just about 20 people, unlike my commercial films. It made me wonder then, whether I needed so many people to work on my films! In Pasanga it was about kids in the village whereas Pasanga 2 is about kids in the city and city life.

The main thing about Pandiraj is that he’s very good with his dialogues and I love them. All the dialogues in his film are highly spoken about. If you see Pasanga also, the dialogues that last five minutes in that film are amazing. It's the same case with the climax of Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga. Suddenly it was demanding for me in the shooting spot when he would say, act like Robin Williams or Nagesh. He has been pushing to make Pasanga 2 a very different experience, even though it’s a kids’ film. As you know, a kids’ film is not just for kids, but for the parents too.  

In fact, Pandiraj has done more than four years of research and has some 2000 papers on the subject of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He has collated information from teachers, counsellors, child psychiatrists and so on. But we've still managed to make the film as light-hearted and entertaining as possible. We have about one-and-a-half hours of footage that we haven’t used! 

Also, technicians like Balu (cinematographer) and Praveen (Editor) worked on the film for free – it showed their passion to be part of a project like this. So it was a really nice experience working with Pandiraj and an entirely different experience for me working with kids and with a team which completes a film in 50 days. 

Suriya with director Pandiraj on set

This movie revolves around kids with ADHD. As a parent, are you aware of such issues that children face?

Each child is different. For instance, my daughter and son are very different from each other. My son is a happy, positive child who smiles and laughs right from the moment he wakes up. But my daughter is more serious by nature – even if 100 good things happen, if there’s one small negative incident, she’ll hold on to that. Personally, when my daughter was about five, she was crying through the year at school at one point and used to go stand next to the teacher. She used to get anxious when she had to go to school after the holidays. We couldn’t figure out what was happening. Her teacher was a friend of ours, so she knew her well and the headmistress was also very supportive. But still, something was worrying my daughter. We had to take her to a counsellor. People might think ‘why take a five-year-old to a counsellor?’ but it really helped. Children are in a very different world, they have their own challenges and battles to face. Very rarely do we get into their world – we just give them instructions and ask them to follow what we say. This film talks about a lot of these things. It’s not that kids will be brought up well only if they see this film, but things can be much better. One spark can change a whole thought process. 

You are known for your commercial films. Did you face any challenges in this film?

Not really, I think substance is more important than the main character. If you are able to make them believe and touch them in the film, it doesn’t matter if the film is a big or small budget one. You just have to touch that chord and I think it happens because of the kids. They have been very good in front of the camera. Even when they made a mistake, we would burst out laughing because whatever they did was very real, not acting. I don’t know how to appreciate Pandiraj – he had so much patience to get them in front of the camera and get what he wanted. In fact, the kids were with them for nearly one-and-a-half-years before they started shoot. The assistant directors spent extensive time with them and became like family. So when we actually went to shoot, asking them to say a dialogue or wear an outfit wasn’t a sudden shock for them. Pandiraj wanted to make it as real as possible and we got some amazing montages.

Suriya with the kids on set

What do you think the audience can learn from Pasanga 2?

I think there should be a balance in life. After a long time, we saw a woman-oriented film like 36 Vayadhinile as after Balachander sir’s Kalki, I couldn't recall a strong woman-oriented film. Similarly, a lot of kids' films have come like Kaaka Muttai and Thanga Meengal. This film also has got a different experience to share. Every social stratum in Tamil Nadu and even Chennai has a different lifestyle. If you take even the middle class, there’s a modern middle class and a conservative middle class. There are a lot of young couples for whom child-rearing comes as a shock. Bringing up children is getting more complex every day because now you really have to give your kids a lot of time. Children spend a lot of time confined at home today and it’s normal that they get agitated. So you need to strike the right balance. Sometimes, there is also unlearning that needs to happen as a parent. I think this film will be an eye-opener on how to bring up your kids.