The ace director reacts to the flaws pointed out by several critics, says he takes full responsibility for the mistakes
While there are dubious reports about the box office collections of Rajinikanth starrer Lingaa, few sections of the audience have pointed out some big goof ups in the film. Few critics have even scoffed at the hilarious climax scene, which is far from believable. Answering to all the queries and goof ups, Lingaa’s director KS Ravikumar opened up about the film to a leading news daily.
When asked about the climax in question, this is what KSR had to say,” The climax was shot keeping in mind ardent Rajini fans. It was shot for them. If you observe, the actual story ends when the thief, after listening to his grandad’s story, gets ready to leave the place. After that, we wanted to do something different for the fans. We were considering several options when one of the discussion assistants suggested that we try out the balloon sequence, saying it had appeared earlier in a Jackie Chan movie. So, inspired by the sequence in the Armour Of God, we decided to shoot our climax. There are a considerable number of people, including a large number of children, who enjoyed this climax. However, it might not appeal to some others. To such people, all I wish to say is, in your mind, consider the part where the character of the thief prepares to leave the place as the end.”
To the allegations that Lingaa is actually based on the story of British engineer John Pennycuick, the ace filmmaker gets defensive as he says,” Lingaa’s main story revolves around Lingeswaran’s character. This film is not the story of engineer John Pennycuick, but inspired by him. However, if we had confined to narrating only this story, the commercial content of the film would have come down. Being a commercial director and having the responsibility of delivering a commercial Rajini film, I had to add the other character and the climax. But the main plot lies between these two and it is being appreciated by 99 per cent of the audience. Even the remaining one per cent does not say the film is bad, they say it is OK.”
Speaking about the inconsistent CGI effects, KSR clarified,” In a film, one might have 450 good CG shots and just four or five bad shots, but then, people will still not talk about the good work that has been done. They will only pick on the faults. That is human nature. Not just you, I too am like that. When I too watch a film, only the faults strike me. But then, I don’t talk about the people concerned with those mistakes in public, but ask them in private as we technicians are friends. Therefore, I do not blame you for finding such flaws. In fact, I will go to the core and ensure that there are no such mistakes in my future films.”