“When
I was assisting for Vijay’s earlier film 'Velayudham' with Jayam Raja
sir two years ago, I had narrated a one-liner to him. It is a dream come
true for me when one day Vijay anna called me and asked me to work on
it. He said, ‘I liked the idea you told me earlier. You develop the
script and come back. That’s how Jilla started,” Neson explains in an
excited tone.
After bringing Vijay on board for
the title role, Neson’s biggest challenge was to sign yet another mega
star for the second protagonist which is an equally powerful role. “I
knew no one other than Lal sir can do justice to it. I told Vijay that
Lal sir was my first choice for the role of Sivan. He was happy and
asked me to check with Mohanlal sir if he would accept,” he adds.
Convincing
Lalettan about Jilla wasn’t too difficult for Neson. “Mohanlal sir is
not actually Vijay’s father in the movie. He is his mentor, more of a
godfather figure. I literally chased Lal sir, as he was extremely busy
with his Malayalam commitments. He himself has said that he accepted it
because he loved the story and the strong characterisation of Sivan,
his character.”
What is the meaning of the title 'Jilla'?
“Vijay’s character’s name is Shakthi, but people fondly called him Jilla
(which means one who leads a group).
Unlike mass appeal films,
here you see Vijay in a role with a lot of depth. He has been projected
differently from his other films and it has lot of family sentiment.”
“Working with both the stars was an enriching experience,” he gushes.
“Vijay anna never treated me like a newcomer. I was very nervous. He
gave me maximum comfort level, and with that half of my job was done.
Both actors have a huge fan following. When I had the dilemma as whose
name should come first in the title credits, I went and asked both.
Mohanlal sir said, “Obviously, Vijay’s name should come first. On the
other hand, Vijay insisted, ‘let anyone say anything, you must put Lal
sir’s name first.’ Accordingly, Lal sir’s name appears first in the
title credits.”
Questioned about Jilla’s length, being closer to three hours, Neson
avers, “It is 2 hours and 50 minutes. The story of Jilla demanded that
length. The success of a film does not depend upon its length, but on
the content and how you present it.”
Producer R.B. Choudhary is in his
25th year in the film industry. 'Jilla', is his 85th production in
South Indian cinema. “This is my sixth film with Vijay. Together we
have given the biggest blockbusters like 'Poove Unakkaga', 'Thullatha
Manamum Thullum', etc. Earlier, we used to cast heroes for the scripts
which were already written. Now Vijay has grown so big that we have to
create scripts to suit his mass hero image. I have also done two films
with Mohanlal. 'Jilla' is a mass family entertainer and I am confident
that it will break all the records created by our banner. It has a
larger than life grandeur and is one of the biggest budget movies I have
ever made. Mohanlal didn’t take any remuneration, instead he has
taken the Kerala distribution rights. I heard that he is releasing it
in a record breaking 300 screens in Kerala. It will be released in a big
way with approximately 1200 screens worldwide including M’town,” shares
Choudhary.
