Raghu Thatha will be a comedy on impositions on women: Director Suman

The writer of popular web series like The Family Man, Suman Kumar, who is now turning director with the comedy period film Raghu Thatha, says that his film will be about imposition in general and the unfair impositions that are thrust on women in particular.

(R) Keerthy Suresh; (L) Director Suman Kumar

The writer of popular web series like The Family Man, Suman Kumar, who is now turning director with the comedy period film Raghu Thatha, says that his film will be about imposition in general and the unfair impositions that are thrust on women in particular.

The audio of Raghu Thatha, a film produced by one of India’s top production houses, Hombale Films, was released with great fanfare on Saturday in Chennai.

Featuring National Award-winning actress Keerthy Suresh in the lead, Raghu Thatha marks the directorial debut of Suman Kumar, who is best known for having written the scripts of immensely popular web series such as The Family Man and Farzi.

Apart from Keerthy Suresh, who plays the protagonist in the film, Raghu Thatha will also feature Suresh, M S Baaskar, Ravindra Vijay, Devadarshini, Rajeev Ravindranathan, Jayakumar, Anandsami, Rajesh Balachandiran, Ismath Banu, KS. Mippu, Mukesh, Janaki, Aadhira Pandilakshmi and Chu Khoy Sheng in pivotal roles.

The film, which has cinematography by Yamini Yagnamurthy and music by Sean Roldan, is a comedy drama that has been produced by producer Vijay Kiragandur on behalf of Hombale Films.

The entire cast and crew of Raghu Thatha, which has been scheduled for release on August 15, took part in the audio launch function of the film which took place at a star hotel on Saturday with great fanfare.

Speaking at the audio launch event, director Suman Kumar said, “Honestly, I never thought that I would direct a film called Raghu Thatha. I have a friend from Kanyakumari named Kingsley. We were once chilling at the home of Anand Krishnamoorthy, who is the sound designer of this film. Kingsley suddenly said, ‘My grandad pulled my dad’s leg saying he took a Hindi exam in the bank for the sake of getting a promotion. He said, ‘My dad had shouted slogans against the imposition of Hindi but had learnt Hindi for the sake of promotions’. That was when it struck me that this was a great film idea. This was almost 14 years back and here we are. It would not have been possible without my writing team – Anand, Manoj and Naveen – and my technical team – DoP Yamini Yagnamurthy, Editor T S Suresh, Sound designer Anand Krishnamoorthy and costume designer Poornima. It is a strong team. I decided that if at all I did this movie, I would do it with only this team, except for a couple of people.

“A lot of people can say a lot of things about this film but I am very proud of one thing about this film – casting. Wonderful actors came together and did such a fantastic job led by Keerthy Suresh, M S Baskar sir, Devadarshini ma’am and my good friend Ravinder Vijay. “

The director went on to say, “How this film happened is creative producer Vijay Subramaniam took me to Hombale’s office where I met the producer. There, he asked me if I had a line to narrate to the producer. I told only one line. I said, ‘There is a boy who is in love with a girl but for him to get her, he needs to learn Hindi.’ The producer was impressed and wanted to do a film on that line. We haven’t done that.
We have done something else and you will see.”

Talking about the man of the moment, music director Sean Roldan, director Suman Kumar said, “Both Sean Roldan and I are crazy. When two crazy people work together, you will get to know soon what kind of output you will get. Thank you for being crazy Sean in this world of mediocrity.”

The director, who even answered a few questions from the media after his speech, explained that the film was not about opposing Hindi but about resisting the imposition of a language. In fact, the film, he said, dealt with certain impositions on women.