Did you know Vetrimaaran was down with Dengue when directing Asuran?

Director Vetrimaaran’s Asuran has won two National Awards — one for Best Actor and the other for Best Feature film in Tamil.

Anybody who has watched the film will not be surprised that Asuran won. They would have been surprised if it hadn’t. The film had class stamped all over it just like every other Vetri Maaran film. So, National Awards for Asuran were a given.

For Vetrimaaran, winning National Awards is becoming a habit. This is his fifth National Award. He’s won National awards for Aadukalam, Visaranai and Kaaka Muttai before.

So what is that one quality of Vetrimaaran that puts him ahead of others competing with him? Ever wondered? If you have, allow me to explain. It is Vetri’s hard work.

When Asuran completed 100 days in theatres (a rare feat in this day and age), the team organised a success meet.

One of the speakers who spoke in that event called Jagadeesan went on give details of the working pattern of the team and the director in particular.

He said the reason for the phenomenal success of Asuran was the hard work of the entire crew. In particular, he named director Vetrimaran and pointed out a particular instance to substantiate his claim.

“Director Vetrimaran was down with Dengue while shooting Asuran. But he refused to slow down or stop working. He would keep taking Papaya leaves that were ground into a paste as medicine for Dengue and continue to work because he wanted to ensure that the film released on the announced date,” he said.

Other speakers who spoke on the occasion also pointed out that Vetrimaran had not slept during the last five days before the film’s release!

The man was so committed to finishing his work on time that he had gone sleepless!

No wonder then, Asuran, which is based on the book Vekkai by Poomani, had been rated by many as the best Tamil film of that year and no wonder, it has fetched him a National Award!