RANJITH KUMAR BRINGS IN NATURAL ACTING

By... N.THYAGARAJAN


Of all the serials, 'Aarumaname Aaru' of the Raj TV Channel has a largest number of actresses having good faces are acting in good characters. It is the story of six daughter-in-laws who all unitedly change their ruining husbands. The serial has a lot of feed back from various World Tamil Centers in India and abroad, for the story talks about education and the evils of drinking habit, claims the director K.K.Ranjith Kumar.

It is considered among the four of Raj Tv channel's serials, this one is considered the best and many who watches other channels in the prime time of 9.00 PM to 9.30 PM had slowly began to switch over this channel for Aarumaname Aaru. "It is the story and the dialogues of V.L. Bhaskar Raj which is bringing in more and more viewers" says the director Ranjith Kumar.

In an interview to the Guide, Ranjith Kumar says, "the subject of the story is to create social awareness. This is not a usual story based on 'tit for tat' or an act of vengence which usually takes place in most of the serials.Take for instance, the last son Kabilan in this play has been watching various social problems and tries to set them right".

Simlarly, when the court tries to vacate the house of Seetha due to non payment of loan money, how all the daughter-in-laws come to the rescue to save their traditional property.

The serial has Seetha, Elizabeth, Shanthi Anand, Shobana, Jayalakshmi who are all known faces to the tv viewers, but they see all of them appearing in different roles, tells the director. Besides, Deepan Chakravarthi, Art Director G.K., Suruli Manohar, Kannan, Ashok and Isaac are acting in the serial. "Viewers could see them acting in slow movement with pure dialogue deliveries and proper movements for the scenes. One need not take much strain to watch the serial" says Ranjith.

Ranjith says, "Last month the serial has to show a marriage taking place in a choultry. I asked the producers, the scene must be natural and hence I asked them to hire a marriage hall with some invitees for the marriage. We did the shooting of the marriage in a big choultry with the real play of Nadaswaram, Purohith and many people to attend the marriage. The marriage scene was an event and we decorated the choultry with colour bulbs as it would take place in real marriages. Followed by the subamuhurat we arranged reception in which most of the visitors will visit the marriage with a different words of congratulatory to the couples. Of course, we arranged belly-full marriage meals with sweets and payasam. We spent nearly Rs.5 lakhs for the nine-hour shooting of the marriage alone".

On seeing the scene, many wrote to the production company and the channel that the marriage was like that of their family wedding. When asked about how the idea struck the director, he said " I had been working for various AVM's mega soaps for more than eleven years and also I worked for the films like Pista, Minsara Kanna, Arivumani under Abavaanan, MU.Kalanjiyam and M.A.Kennady. The past experience taught me to do this for this serial. I think I have won in this endeavour, because a lot of feed back still pouring in".

Last month, Aarumanme Aaru celebrated its 50th day celebrations. Ranjith says the serial is going to be a milestone for the trio S.Saravanan, S.Sangeeth and S.Srikumar under the banner Akashan Media Works. Some of the serial's watchers who came to the function praised the story line and the artistes wholeheartedly. " There is going to be big function, when the serial touches its 100th episode" says the director.

Says the young Ranjith Kumar who is also receipient of Best Film Award for his telefilm "Kanavugal" when it was screened in Europe Film Festival very recently. " I can make all to act in any role whether they are experienced in acting or new to acting. First I will tell the situation of the scenes and will ask them to imbibe in their minds. Then I will ask them to act for the scene step by step with simple dialogues that is used in our ordinary lives. Even, if they could not follow my advice, I will ask them to think of some leading film artistes acting. If they could bring atleast 50 percent of their feelings into them then the scene will be success".

" I have never scolded anyone so far if they did not perform well in their roles. It may take time for the new entrants to pick up in acting. Hence, we allow them to take their own time to act in their roles" says Ranjith Kumar who has the patience to make everyone to become good artistes of the small screen. He has plans to do a lot of work in the film direction and till then he said that he was not prepared to marry.

SEETHA SAYS THE DIRECTOR HAS A BRIGHT FUTURE:

"Ranjith Kumar has a bright future. First a director must have good character to maintain relationships with his co-workers including the artistes. This director has all the ingredients to film even difficult scenes within a span of time with his pre-planned thought. In fact, all the artistes including myself are gifted to work under his direction. He is disciplined person in maintaining time in the sets" says Seetha when sought her opinion to talk about the serial's director.